Manhattan - The City of Sky-High Rent - NYTimes.com OPTING OUT Kimberly and Bryan Kreuzberger decided to buy at 100 Jay Street when the rent went up - again - at their West Village studio. GARY L. MALIN, the president of Citi Habitats, the city's largest rental brokerage firm, has seen the real estate market at its giddiest heights and its deepest despair. There should be little that surprises him. But when Mr. Malin's company was preparing its latest analysis of the rental market, he was taken aback. In March, the firm found, the average rent in Manhattan - now $3,418 a month - surpassed the all-time high set in the real estate frenzy of 2007. "Right now, landlords can go for pie in the sky - why not?" he said. But when are people going to say enough is enough and look at other options? The last time rents shot up in a similar fashion, they were tied to a strong economy, low unemployment and booming business on Wall Street. But this spring, Manhattan rental prices seem to be divorced from the larger economic picture. While the city has added jobs in recent months and growth in businesses like technology has helped make up for losses in the financial sector, much of country is still struggling. That disconnect has only increased resentment levels among many tenants, already reeling from a year or more of rent increases. "I felt trapped," said Jaclyn Barrocas, who was recently hit with a big rent increase on her East Side apartment. It was too expensive to move and too expensive to stay. And it feels like I am not even a person to the landlord. There is evidence that rising rents are driving perspective renters into the sales market. But for those who find buying a home in New York City is not an option - whether because of bad credit, tougher lending standards or lack of a down payment - the choices are limited and often unappealing. Landlords and brokers say more and more young people are sharing, even if it means sacrificing a living room to add a bedroom or two. There has also been a surge of interest in the other boroughs, with many neighborhoods reporting record rents of their own. Some tenants may be able to negotiate with their landlords, especially if they are long-term renters with good track records. But property owners have little reason to cut deals, because the vacancy rate in Manhattan is hovering around 1 percent. And just 2,229 rental apartments are scheduled to be added to the market this year in Manhattan, a 30 percent drop from the average number over the last seven years. The uncoupling of the national economy from New York rents is not typical, said Jonathan J. Miller, the president of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel. "When you see rents rising, it is usually reflective of a strong economy," he said. That is not the case now. Instead, he said, prices are being driven up by a tight credit market that forces people to stay in the rental market and limits new construction. Some renters feeling the squeeze have resigned themselves to paying more for less. When Ms. Barrocas, 26, first found her one-bedroom apartment with views of the East River on the 19th floor of a Murray Hill apartment building in 2010, it cost $2,550 a month. She and her boyfriend quickly signed up for a two-year lease. With the lease set to expire in June, she recently received word that her landlord wanted to raise the rent by more than $500 a month. "I started freaking out," Ms. Barrocas said. It is a huge increase. She was not ready to buy, but she could not afford to stay in her current apartment. The landlord would not negotiate. But moving, even if she found a cheaper place, would most likely force her to shell out around $5,000 for broker fees, security deposit and moving costs. Fortunately, a cheaper apartment was available in her building. It was smaller, had little natural light and lacked river views. But at $2,745 a month it was in her price range, and there was no broker's fee. She made the move. Ms. Barrocas says many of her neighbors feel similarly trapped. "People just want to leave," she said. I would have preferred to leave. Landlords like to have leases signed in the spring, when they can command the highest rent because so many people are moving for work or school. So across the city, thousands of renters are facing a similar dilemma.