Spiked hotel supply may soon drive down room rates in New York City

A veteran hotel investor this morning told Wall Street analysts that it's time to exercise "extreme" caution in the New York hotel market, which remains the most expensive in the USA but is also experiencing a hotel building boom.

"Our viewpoint on New York is extreme cautiousness," Pebblebrook Hotel Trust CEO Jon Bortz told analysts on the company's third-quarter earnings call. "It's due primarily to the supply side — not the demand side."

"We've seen very significant supply growth in the market. New York has changed. There are a lot of sub-markets in New York that have opened up due to less crime, whether that's lower Manhattan...the West Side — which is probably the most active area from a development perspective, including with hotels.