Manhattan apartment rents jumped by as much as 36% in the past five years, driven higher by a scarcity of space and rising prices for condominiums and co-operatives.

Monthly rent for studio apartments climbed 20% from 2002 through 2006, according to a report by New York real estate broker Citi Habitats. One-bedrooms increased 23%, two-bedrooms 32%, and larger units spiked 36%.

Demand for rentals increased as condominium prices rose 40% to an average of $1.1 million in the past five years, according to data from Manhattan appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. Building owners are also raising rents after offering incentives to lure tenants following the attacks of September 11.

“Landlords were able to make up a lot of lost ground from the previous years,” the chief operating officer of Citi Habitats, Gary Malin, said in an interview.

Rental vacancy rates declined in each of the last five years, from 2.62% in 2002 to less than 1% last year. About 75% of New York’s housing stock is rental, according to Citi Habitats.

The SoHo-TriBeCa area was the city’s most expensive for studio, two-bedroom, or three-bedroom apartments. Studios there cost an average $2,228 a month, two-bedrooms cost $4,750, and three-bedrooms rented for $6,971.

One-bedrooms were most expensive in the West Village, where low-rise apartment buildings and townhouses dominate. They cost $3,035 a month.

“The downtown market has the bars and restaurants,” Mr. Malin said. “It’s not towering high rises everywhere. It’s got a lot of charm.”

The average price of an apartment in the America was $972 at the end of 2006, 3.2% higher than a year earlier, according to MPF YieldStar, a Carrollton, Texas-based real estate research firm.