Here are some charts that compare rents from last summer to this summer. Summer, by the way, is peak rental season in Manhattan, when prices are the highest. Want to save money? Move in the dead of winter.
Units are just a few hundred dollars off, not the bargain basement prices that The New York Times would have you believe. (P.S. Don't believe anything you read in their Real Estate section. They are wrong 95% of the time.)
Average Rentals: Summer 2008

Average Rentals: Summer 2009

As for vacancies, at any given time in Manhattan there is roughly a 1 - 2% vacancy rate. No warehouses of empty apartments waiting to be given away, as the media would have you believe.
Vacancies: Summer 2008

Vacancies: Summer 2009
