A new Streeteasy survey suggests that NYC could be nicknamed the Big Rent Burden.
Per the survey on market-rate rentals:
As a classic rule of thumb, a rent-to-income ratio of 30 percent or lower is considered “affordable,” meaning that renters spend 30 percent or less of their monthly income on rent – freeing up the majority of their income for other costs of living and savings. Even when considering that residents of large cities will typically spend more of their incomes on rent than in less amenity-rich areas, New York is in a league of its own. The median asking rent in New York City is expected to reach $2,700 in 2015, amounting to a staggering 58 percent of median income in the city according to StreetEasy estimates. High rent prices are only half of the picture, though. Stagnant income growth, short supply of rental units, and rapidly increasing rents is making New York City one of the most expensive and challenging rental markets in the country. According to census data, New York City rent prices grew at almost twice the pace of income between 2000 and 2013, meaning that over time rent has taken up a much larger piece of New Yorkers’ incomes.
Streeteasy's interactive map shows you the percentage of income residents are paying in rent by neighborhood. In the East Village, it's 56 percent ... with the Lower East Side checking in at 81 percent. As
The Wall Street Journal notes, "The report offers a glimpse into one aspect of the much-studied question of affordability in the city, looking at the median income of people who live here compared with the more than 140,000 listings that StreetEasy analyzed from its site." You can read the whole survey
here.
upzone the privileged areas like the west village instead of areas like East New York
ReplyDeleteInstalling turnstiles will definitely fix this problem.
ReplyDeleteMy rent for a studio in Alphabet City was just under $1400 five years ago. It is now over $1700. While it is a good deal relatively speaking, it is still a large sum of money for a small apartment. The longer I continue to remain in the city, the longer I am forced to question if it is worth it. I have a Bachelor's Degree from an Ivy League School and can't find a job bussing tables. I am older and feel the economic squeeze. I don't envision a positive change in the job market in NYC during my lifetime (I am now 40). The sad thing is prices are raising and jobs are non-existent. I think NYC is becoming like Zurich or Geneva in Switzerland, which is a playground for the rich, charging insane amounts of money to live. NYC will be like that country. What a shame.
ReplyDeleteNYC used to be the most exciting city in the world. There used to be a time where one could rent an apartment in this hood for well under 800. Granted, most didn't want to live past A, but the demand and cost of living here is exponential, if not dangerously expensive. This was the place to move if you wanted to be somebody, if you wanted to achieve something valuable, and live on the cutting edge. Now, it is a place where you can only sustain a living unless you make over 100k a year, and that is a modest estimate. What the fuck is happening? The mayor should change the name to New Money City. NY is dead. Who has over 2 grand to pay for rent, not excluding other expenses? Certainly not artists or free thinkers. They are products of nepotism, adult children of the filthy rich, or Hedge Fund Managers. You can't even rent an apartment unless you can vouch that you make 40x time the rent. This is a town of conformists and capitalists.
ReplyDeleteNo kidding..even more for some.
ReplyDeleteI feel simpatico with anons 1:38 and 1:56. NYC is a 20th century city. Outside of a few specific interests/industries, I don't think anyone really needs to come here to make a name for themself. Especially artists. This town is so un-artistic right now it hurts.
ReplyDeleteMy friend just rented a studio apartment for 2k on First Avenue near E4th. She paid first and last months rent, a deposit, and 25% annual fee of the annual year rent to the broker. In the end, she dropped 11 grand to move into a studio apartment, which she rents, and doesn't buy. She even dropped 1 grand on movers. So, tell me who has 12 grand to move into a 450 square foot shithole on a fifth floor walkup with no laundry machine or dishwasher? Someone who comes from money and who has a co-sginer. Lucky girl.
ReplyDeleteDeBlasio just needs to say it. His vision for NYC is one for only wealthy people and very poor people (and given his stance on school like Stuy, only certain very poor people). If you make between $50K and $150K, hope you like Jersey.
ReplyDeleteDaBlasio? He's been mayor for 5 seconds. Bloomberg has more to do with the crazy rents than DaBlasio. Anyway I would say DaBlasio is more for the poor than middle of upper class. He's one of those white guilt liberals
DeleteRents in the EV are insanely high. The reason is because Gov George Pataki stuck the knife in rent regulations back in 1997 and they've been on life support ever since.
ReplyDeleteRent regulations are up for renewal this June. Call and write letters to Cuomo and the Speaker of the Assembly. (It works. That's what the NRA does). Tell them you want to restore sanity in the NYC rental housing market. Tell them you want stronger rent laws. This is doable.
Here's what we want:
http://metcouncilonhousing.org/news_and_issues/tenant_newspaper/2015/january/the_tenant_legislative_platform_for_2015
Here's contact info:
The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
1-518-474-8390
Office hours: 9:00am to 5:00pm
Speaker Carl Heastie
New York State Assembly
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-4800
Office hours: 9:00am to 5:00pm
If you got in before 1980, and haven't been hounded out, you're good to go. Otherwise...
ReplyDelete@anon 2:36pm
ReplyDeleteI read your friend's numbers and contrasted them with my own experience-- the difference is staggering.
In the late 80s, I paid $150 a week and another $150 deposit. Three hundred dollars total to have a place to rest my head, brush my teeth, store my books, get my mail, and have my own telephone line. And back then I got sun exposure and a view of the Twin Towers from my bed. And that was considered expensive! Many of my friends said I was being ripped off. But I loved the place. I knew it was my home when I laid eyes on it.
My weekly pacheck was just shy of two hundred bucks, but I was blissfully happy. And I lived on the ground floor.
It beggars belief what is happening now.
It's pretty much out of DeBlasio's hands, since the State sticks in its greasy mitts whenever the city tries to do anything for the people who live here, pay taxes, and get beat up by the cops (who live out of town).
ReplyDeleteOh, we're way past the turning point now. I moved in a billion years ago when apartments in dicey areas ran under $200/month. Lots of writers, artists, dancers, musicians... A diverse, talented, middle-class crowd fueling a very eclectic and exciting city. It's a little safer (which would have happened anyway), but not as much fun.
What you're seeing now are the death throes.
WELL DUH.
ReplyDeleteYup. I've loooong been wondering about this. Only had anecdotes, but, it seemed like I was hearing so many of them that it was building into real data. This data is no surprise.
ReplyDeleteWould also like to remind anyone who's interested that I broke down how much someone would need for even a "cheap" apartment in these comments:
http://evgrieve.com/2015/02/step-inside-jimmy-mcmillans-world-for.html?showComment=1423579878816#c6051279028863903129
and the correction about the NYC/State tax in
http://evgrieve.com/2015/02/step-inside-jimmy-mcmillans-world-for.html?showComment=1423583395035#c2401915177311048972
I know rents are high, but I was shocked when I read the headline for this story. It's sad what is happening to this great city. The interests of a handful of real estate developers and landlords have become a priority over the rest of us, and the city is suffering. And it's not just people renting apartments. Businesses--even successful restaurants with name chefs--can't afford NYC anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe prices are staggering. I would say most of all apartments in Manhattan require a shit load of money. You might as well donate a kidney or a lung to sign on a lease. Back in LA, if you want an apartment, you visit neighborhoods you like. If there is a vacancy, it will say so with a direct number to call. A housing manager or landlord shows up, gives a tour of the place and asks if you're interested. If so, you apply, pay a 50 dollar credit check, first month and a deposit, many of which have laundry facilities and a dishwasher and a parking space for the half the cost one pays here. No last month or brokers fee whatsoever. The brokers fee here is complete bullshit.
ReplyDeleteStick a fork in it, the East Village is finished.
ReplyDeleteI agree Manhattan is dead especially for those in the arts, and sooner or later the world will wake up to this fact and this town will just become another Dubai or Disney land destination. As for the rents increases this says that there are still too many people that want to live here despite the insane rents. I don't feel sorry for a newbie which pays $2000 for a studio apartment, there are still affordable places to live in the outer boros. These people will obviously pay anything to live here and when they tire of it all someone else will gladly rent that "shit hole". If I was 23 years old again this city is the last place I would move to especially if I were a student or in the arts. There is not stopping the it now, the rich and well to do have their sights on our city and we are just fucked.
ReplyDeleteWell, taking the long view, wait a couple of decades and see what happens. But in the short-term, looks bad for newcomers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with 6:21; we are fucked. Can you imagine what a studio will cost in Manhattan over the next ten years? Try 3 grand. At least. Truly sad.
ReplyDeleteI guess no one on this thread understands the concept of supply/demand. If people weren't willing to pay these prices, the rents wouldn't be so high. If everyone moves to Dallas, soon Dallas won't be affordable either. Everyone here wants the East Village of the late '70s and early '80s, if that's you there's a great city in Michigan for you called Detroit. Go there, but I'll bet you'll be calling it unaffordable in about 10 years.
ReplyDeleteLike the previous Alphabet City commenter, my husband had been in the same studio for 5 years until recently. His rent started at 1250 for about 350 sq ft and we just moved into even less space for about 1550 (and it was made very clear that "this space could go for 1800", so we were "lucky"). This is most of our service industry wages. We sat down to do the math on relocating to a smaller city and even moving costs alone put us in a situation where we are stuck here just making it while still grasping at pursuing our passions. It's exhausting. This town is purgatory for those who can't afford anything else. Grim but true.
ReplyDeleteanon 9:29pm
ReplyDeletesupply and demand is further enhanced when the supply is reduced with the assistance of city government.
the loss of rent control on apartments speeds up the process and encourages outrageous landlord greed.
our neighborhood is full of hotels, out-of-this-world residential and commercial rents and ultra-expensive goods and services.
the spiral will expand as long as tourism and multi-million dollar real estate prices escalate at their present rapid pace.
greed is not a formula.
To the poster at 9:23 who thinks people don't understand the concept of supply/demand, that isn't the primary cause of the out-of-control rents. It has come to this thanks to changes in rent regulation in the city and zoning changes made to favor real estate developers. This isn't a natural increase but one that has been engineered.
ReplyDeleteWish 9:23 would troll elsewhere. Are you the same person who tells EVG readers and commenters that we "don't understand" business, commerce, etc. on every thread? Wow, would love to read you my resume sometime.
ReplyDeleteLots of us understand. And what you're missing is this, and it's already happening... the tipping point has occurred. Look at retail space in 10003/09. An abnormally high number of vacancies.
It's churn n' burn territory that we're in here -- the latest fro-yo at 3rd and 12th lasted 7 months. Someone who wanted to start an admittedly ridiculous busines is out a great deal of money.
Anyway, I know of a secret place that's even cheaper than Detroit, but I'm only going to tell the super cool people.
Detroit is no "secret place". For one, there's plenty of evidence that larger developers playing the long game are buying swaths of Detroit under shell companies. They are just waiting for the pensions to be eviscerated, the populace that's left to be willing to take anything, and federal and state infrastructure money (bonds)to do cleanups and make repairs in deals that involve "revitalization" where it is going to get turned into big developments.
ReplyDeleteIf you want a "secret place" you need somewhere not of interest to developers and with a good grass-roots network. Otherwise, all that grass-roots renovation will be ruined by politically-connected market-force-creation like this city.
March 2, 2015 at 10:57 PM De Blasio's hands are tied. There's next to nothing he can do to protect what's left of affordable housing in NYC. The state controls that.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a little too much pessimism here. Demographics in the state are changing in our favor. If a solid Democrat runs in 2016, look for the state Senate to flip Democratic. That would be huge.
In the meantime call your Assemblyman (Brian Kavanagh ST-PCV/EV 212-979-9696 or Sheldon Silver LES 212-312-1420) and say you want stronger, more pro-tenant rent regulations renewed when they expire this June. Call and write the governor too.
The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
1-518-474-8390
Office hours: 9:00am to 5:00pm
Who is going to Albany to rally for stronger rent regulations between now and June? A big rally is planned for May 19th in Albany. http://www.realrentreform.org/
ReplyDeleteU guess I should consider myself fortunate. Moved into a sizable duplex apartment in the mid- to late '70s. It was affordable then at $ 620 a month. I was doing pretty well financially at that time. But after almost 20 lease renewals, the price now is almost 4 times what it was then. Still considered a good deal, but I, who loved living alone, was eventually forced to take in some room-mates. Luckily, they're the best roomies anyone could wish for. The neighborhood was still pretty rough at that time, and I not infrequently had to carry out some passed-out junkie from the vestibule.
ReplyDeleteFirst came to NYC in '85, when one could purchase an abandoned building in the LES for $1.00 from the City and renovate it under the homesteading law. I finally left NYC in late '97, when I was paying $750/month for a one-bedroom on 7th Avenue and 11th St. in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I visited two years later, and, looking up at that former apartment from across the street, knew that someone else was renting it for twice as much as I had.
ReplyDeleteEven then, when I revisited the formerly-crummy LES neighborhoods in which I'd lived (say, Clinton & Rivinton) back in the '80s, I was shocked to see the upscale boutiques and coffee shops that had installed themselves. It confirmed my inkling that I'd gotten out early. I hadn't foreseen the degree to which this abomination has manifested itself, but reading this blog and Vanishing New York enable me to watch it play-out.
I moved to Austin, Texas from NYC, and soon this same sort of shit started happening here - albeit to the tune of lower rents than in NYC. Austin's population has (officially) risen by 50% since 2000, and rents have doubled since then. Just within the past few years, there are a lot more luxury-condo buildings and high-rise hotels in the downtown area. This ruthlessly-aggressive redevelopment and "upscaling" is sometimes frightening. As in the case of NYC, as I look around me in Austin, I wonder, "Who ARE these people with all this money to pay the higher rents and buy these condos?"
The SXSW festival has something to do with Austin's bloat – I mean, boom. People who've been cooped-up all winter come to Austin during the week when the weather's nicest, and have the times of their lives, and exclaim, "I could LIVE here!" If they were to come here in August, they'd exclaim, "I'm DYING here!" (It gets HOT, y'all.)
I understand that this sort of aggressive renovation has been occurring, oddly enough, in formerly-broke Portland, OR, and now is starting in St. Louis, MO, which is supposedly now the most-invested-in city by the tech industry. Everything cool and old and characteristic about St. Louis will soon go to hell, because of that. I had actually thought of moving to STL to escape the ridiculousness of ATX, but I'm starting to suspect that I have a nose for the "next big thing."
The "secret" places are those where no one lives, or no one wants to live. Maybe a small town in Arkansas? A farm in Kansas? Who reading this blog has flown over Nevada, New Mexico and such, and looked out the window at all that big, empty LAND? It can't all be reserved for secret underground Alien bases, out there.