These numbers are wildly inflated. the official corporate rental sector in NYC s actually very small (most properties are condos/coops) owned by small scale landlords. That 5k number is the price that a (often foreign) company would pay to keep an executive for a temporary assignment in NYC. Then you have the students who are burning thier parents money anyways. Anecdotally the landlords are looking to recoup their COVID losses and a lot of these units are not renting.