Apartment titan Equity Residential (EQR) isn't worried about the Big Apple.

Demand is steady, while occupancy and rents are holding up, good news from its biggest market where it has 22 properties, including nine in Manhattan. Pricey penthouses are even full.

Of course, deal "negotiations are tough. It's taken our people on the ground a lot longer to complete every renewal and to secure every transaction," executives said on a second-quarter earnings conference call Thursday. "That hard work is paying [dividends] because we're pretty stable in New York right now."

That matches findings from BMO Capital Markets, which recently visited 10 developments to see what kind of deal they could score during the key leasing season. Leasing agents didn't appear desperate, and the firm was surprised at how few apartments were available, it reported Wednesday.

Still, investors continue to monitor real estate investment trust exposure to New York, as the region softens following the financial sector's meltdown, which has also sparked layoffs in everything from law firms to eateries. That's expected to push New York City's unemployment rolls in 2010 to their highest level in more than 15 years.

As the renter-heavy region deals with the changing landscape, Manhattan's average rent per square foot fell to $44.16 in the second quarter, down about 17% from a year earlier, according to Prudential Douglas Elliman's second-quarter rental report, produced by Miller Samuel Inc.

The number of days rental units sat on the market nearly doubled to 83, while the listing discount climbed to 9.5% from 2.6%. Some landlords aim to lure tenants with a month or two of paid rent, paying brokerage fees or even free months at a gym.

But BMO found that Equity Residential' s Trump Place on the Upper West Side was 96% occupied and was no longer offering a free month of rent. Another building had no one- or two-bedrooms available.

Shares of the Chicago-based company - which reported second-quarter funds from operations of 58 cents a share, down from 64 cents a share year earlier - were recently up 8.6% at $23.76.

-By Dawn Wotapka, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2193; dawn.wotapka@dowjones.com