Nice cherry picked data. That's a HUD report. Try checking the NYC Rent Guidelines Report for accurate data:
Manhattan 2.57 and Queens 2.11 [1]
That's from page 2. It also shows a -25% and -35% change for vacancy rates from 3 years prior for those two boroughs.
And you can't seem to produce any citation for your assertion about a piece of the tax code that allows landlords to make more money from empty apartments than renting them at market rate.