Thursday, July 28, 2022

StreetEasy data: Median East Village residential rents surged 43% in past 12 months

Yesterday I shared in the EVG Instagram Stories the above post from the @nytimes account about the sky-rocketing rents for NYC apartments.

In the photo, the East Village resident and roommate reportedly paid $3,300 in rent in 2020... $4,700 last year... and a staggering $6,300 in 2022. They will likely need to move. 

I heard from about a dozen (now-former) East Village residents via Instagram who said they found themselves in similar situations: landlords dropping exorbitant increases on their market-rate apartments in the past year. In most cases, the residents had to move away ... some went out of state to live with relatives ... another is couch-surfing in Brooklyn ... while one said he found a place in the farthest reaches of Queens. 

The piece in the Times was prompted by a report Tuesday via StreetEasy titled, "As Pandemic-Era Leases Expire, NYC Renters Face Toughest Market in Decade." 

An excerpt: 
Despite gradually improving inventory, asking rents are rising steeply as landlords seek to reverse pandemic-era discounts. Rental demand has remained strong as more people gradually return to the city after a jump in outbound migration during the pandemic. Disappearing rental concessions also suggest landlords remain confident about demand. Meanwhile, priced out of Manhattan, many renters are shifting their search to more affordable areas in Brooklyn and Queens. 
And... 
Quarter-over-quarter, NYC rental inventory rose 14% to 65,697 available units in Q2. The strong increase may seem like a positive development for renters, but many of these rentals are expired pandemic-era deals that re-entered the market with significantly higher asking rents. Throughout 2020 and 2021, many landlords offered steep discounts and free months of rent — deals that have mostly lapsed by now.

Landlords have been raising rents more aggressively on units they leased during the pandemic in effort to recoup the earnings they lost. On average, rentals that were listed in 2020 or 2021 and relisted in Q2 2022 showed a 20.4% increase in asking rents per year. In comparison, rentals that were listed in 2018 or 2019 and relisted in Q2 2022 showed a rent increase of 4.5% per year. The 20.4% jump in rent is nearly four times as steep as the yearly increase a tenant would have seen otherwise – which can mean the difference between losing and keeping their current home. 
Per the report, Manhattan's median asking rent rose to $4,100 by the end of the second quarter — the highest on StreetEasy record and equivalent to 55% of the borough's monthly median household income. 

In the East Village, the StreetEasy data shows the median asking rents on active listings in the second quarter jumped 43.1% to $4,150 from the same period in 2021 

Map here via Bloomberg's article on the topic...
And there have been articles about hour-long lines to view some pretty humdrum East Village units. And there have been lines to check out larger units, such as a three-bedroom space asking $5k-plus on 10th Street at Second Avenue (photo from July 16 by Steven)...
Some parting thoughts from StreetEasy's report: 
Unfortunately, the recent improvement in rental inventory has been largely driven by households being priced out of increasingly unaffordable rentals. In addition, as interest rates rise, more would-be homebuyers may be forced to resign themselves to renting, pushing up the demand for rentals even further. During this transition in the NYC market, we foresee rent increases continuing at least through the end of this summer.

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes pandemic pricing was absolutely a real thing and tenants really went all in to get everything they could. Now it's over and in most cases landlords are raising the rent back to pre-pandemic prices. Is that wrong?sure the historic low inventory of new apartments is also driving the market.

Anonymous said...

My god, it's breathtaking how high rents are in the neighborhood. I feel bad for these people, and I cannot imagine going back to roommates. I'll suffer and not complain anymore about my 1940s-era electric outlets/system. There must be a ceiling. This is crazy.

Anonymous said...

The data needs to take in toconsideration that rents fell to a very low number during Covid since many people left the neighborhood and many apartments were empty.

Anonymous said...

My first east village apartment was 80 bucks a month I had to pay the landlord 40 every 2 weeks , in cash. I then moved to Stuyvesant 2 bedroom for 210 a month , when the rent hit 750 I bought a place

Anonymous said...

This is awful and doesn't even mention how so many people lost their jobs and savings over the last two years.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure what the "ceiling" is when you have a bunch of post-grads stuffed into one apartment. If you have 5 or 6 people living in a so-called 2-bedroom apartment, this could go on for awhile.

It doesn't seem like the living rooms of these apartments get used as anything other than an extra bedroom, from what I've read.

Anonymous said...

While I am sorry for some of the people being driven out, the silver lining for me is that the four bedroom frat-boy garden apartment directly across from me (already renting for $6500 per month for the past few years), where they used to throw 10-hour beer pong ragers every weekend with amplified music accompanied by the requisite wooing, shrieking and screaming at each other from a distance of two feet away, is now blessedly empty - my summer has been glorious, and I can enjoy the quiet of the night garden with my windows open (when it's not eight million degrees out).

John Penley said...

All it takes is one really big riot and rents will go down. Rent Strike Riot would make a great new song title.

Anonymous said...

People really thought their Covid rent prices would stick and that this wouldn’t happen. “I got a steal!” Yeah bro, you’re going to be moving in a year again or paying 2-3x your current rate, enjoy it for now.

Anonymous said...

Yeah the data fails to mention that rents were already too high prepandemic. I’m moving out because my landlord raised my rent 15% and has for four years ignored my request and played games for a small repair. Paying someone $60k per year in this city is a joke for how REBNY treats people, even great tenants. Let’s sublet and wait around so we can crash this market!

Anonymous said...

As an apartment owner (3 units) help me understand why I should not charge a competetive rent?
It's a transaction en par with going into a restaurant and ordering a $65 meal only to complain about the price. Here's a tip do not engage in activity you cannot afford.

Anonymous said...

I was thinking the same, "douche-bro exudus".

Anonymous said...

That’s fine keep your sky high competitive prices and crap service but remember that’s what is driving the complaining. We’re entitled to the right to complain. It’s a transaction en par with paying $65 for a meal with no service at the McDonald’s where the subway shooter turned himself in, just because that’s where the subway shooter turned himself in. Then the manager comes to your table and demands a tip because someone will pay $105 for a cheeseburger. Try to work towards a multiyear lease deal people or consider taking a mortgage you don’t ever intend to pay off to stabilize your rent. These landlords only want more money and will hide behind “but my landlord friends are charging these prices!”

They don’t want people to earn a living they want people to give them most of their money and move out so they suck dry the next person who wants to become a NYer.

Neighbor said...

And this is why more development is needed and vacant lots/empty buildings are such a problem.

Sarah said...

"As an apartment owner (3 units) help me understand why I should not charge a competetive rent?"

Because your sole goal in life should not be to maximize your rent extraction from your community, and because in the revolution it's always the mid-level flunkeys of the really powerful who get guillotined? If you can't pick decency, pick your long-term interest.

Anonymous said...

As others have said, this data would be more interesting if it was supplemented by increases compared to 3 and possibly 4 years ago. Most businesses looking at YoY trends are treating 2020/2021 as anomalous in at least some regard.

Giovanni said...

My parents lived on Bleecker and Jones and paid $18 per month, then moved to the East Side and paid $29/month and thought that was a lot at the time. Another relative had a rent controlled apartment in Gramercy for $89 a month. Even though this was decades ago, the bottom line is that regular, everyday inflation is not nearly as high as housing inflation, and there is no government policy to lower the cost of housing for the vast majority of people. Even if these apartments had gone up 10x they would still be under $1000/month,

A wealthy friend had a penthouse apartment on Park Avenue in the 80s, he had the entire top floor with a wraparound terrace, maids rooms, fireplaces, a library, a formal dining room, a huge kitchen and pantry, and it was $1700/month. Today it is worth over $15 million. Whatever people are paying today will look like a steal years from now.

Anonymous said...

The free market will fix it


:|

Anonymous said...

More Affordable Housing for Working Class people & families! less high rent post college pre growing the f up housing for mommy and daddies little millionaires,the greed increase doesn't surprise me cause well greed

The shutting of a few woo houses due to high rents and people going back to work sadly won't stop the throngs of people trying to redefine what the east village is they don't mind paying super high rents for the couple of years they're here and the destruction of the nabe will continue, in fact it will get much worse. The high rents pre pandemic did nothing to abate the crushing shift in demographics in the hood seriously the push back when asking them to keep it down was "We pay a lot of money to live here we can do what we want when we want" will only get louder and 43% more aggressive

We can also Thank CB3 and the SlA who've yet to meet a bar they didn't for killing the east village

Anonymous said...

@5:33 yup and the bar thing is WAY worse since the DOT now somehow is controlling what restaurants close down entire streets for block parties, it's crazy. Look at how much Canal Street changed cause of that BS. No oversight and you know CB3 doesn't wanna deal with it, their hands are tied.

NOTORIOUS said...

The idea of spending more than 2K a month in rent to live in the EV. Why?

Anonymous said...

@5:33PM: "seriously the push back when asking them to keep it down was "We pay a lot of money to live here we can do what we want when we want" will only get louder and 43% more aggressive"

Your comment is 100% on the nose; you nailed it. That is what we hear from the bro-y jerks: "Wha, wha, we pay a lot of money so we can do whatever we want, and if that ruins your quality of life, then fuck off, you old shit-heads."

Anonymous said...

I have been a resident of Alphabet City since 2010. I live alone in a studio apartment, which is clean and renovated. I paid $1375 monthly when I moved in. Now, I pay $2200 monthly, which is now rent stabilized. It is still an enormous amount to pay for a 450 square foot space, but comparative to other apartments in the EV and other neighborhoods, I have a nice unit. I am fortunate that my landlord can only charge a certain percentage based on the guidelines that have been set forth by the city, but even the increases are high. Still, as I traverse through my forties, I wonder if I will ever afford to purchase property here. It seems utterly implasuible. The images and stories of people waiting in line to view a unit is laughable, not to mention the obscene amount of resources it will require to move in, let alone to occupy it. There has to be a happy medium. I understand landlords must earn a living, but do they have to take advantage of a situation? Nonetheless, I am not giving up my apartment unless I marry Mr.Right and move into a larger space, which is unlikely in NYC given how no one wishes to settle, or I relocate to Europe, I win the lottery, sell my memoir and make a killing, my landlord sells the building and pushes us the tenants out, or I die. Finding and keeping an apartment in NYC is worse than a root canal when the anesthesia wears off and your entire mouth is in excruciating pain. THE ABSOLUTE WORST!

Anonymous said...

For decades upon decades every New Yorker is exhausted by the real estate market in NYC. A constant topic of conversation. And so much of the real estate is substandard. It is not just super expensive, even when you have a good deal, the apartment sucks. NYC is noisier, dirtier, more dangerous, expensive, more polluted, more crowded with more traffic and more bureacracy than most any city in the U.S. We would all be better off to move to Westchester or Orange county.

aliasfox said...

To the landlord: I don’t begrudge your desire to rent your units for what you think they’re worth. My personal complaint is the massive increases that are being charged on existing tenants who are likely hoping for some amount of continuity. Now, not saying that landlords should stick with rent-stabilized guidelines, and a 10% increase year over year is actually fairly reasonable given recent inflation - but landlords jacking up rents 25-50% YoY just reeks of opportunism. It’s these unreasonable jumps and instability that drove me to buy into a coop in the neighborhood, but not everyone has that ability.

Charge high rents on new tenants, sure - but be halfway reasonable with pre-existing tenants who aren’t causing you any trouble.

Anonymous said...

I am doing internet research on this and this is what I've discovered:
Schenectady, NY - 900 sq ft $735
Menands, NY - 931 sq ft $900
Troy, NY - 1,200 sq ft $600
Yonkers, NY - 600 sq ft $1,200
I hope everyone has a safe and prosperous day and weekend.

Anonymous said...

Why delay Squat 2day use to be the by line not anymore

noble neolani said...

The EV and LES has a history of people crammed into small apartments every since the 1890's. This time however it is young adults who are deep in debt from college loans, and are highly unlikely to find work which cold afford them even a place with their own bedroom. I remember after years of lobbying Albany the realestate industry successfully destroy affordable housing by getting our government to gut rent control. I think NYC is set for a "brain drain" pretty soon as talented, educated people leave for cities which they can afford and prosper. Greed is not good, it always leads to loss.

noble neolani said...

Neighbor
"And this is why more development is needed and vacant lots/empty buildings are such a problem."
The problem is new buildings are always luxury housing or at the very least unaffordable for a great number of people. I'm not sure where all those "empty lots" are of which you speak unless you consider community gardens and parks, under-developted real-estate. The city government has decided that working class people don't deserve to live here, and every mayor post Dinkins has whored out our neighborhood to the richest campaign donors.

Anonymous said...

I agree squatting is an option since landlords can’t do anything for at least 9 months about it. Reasonable response to such high increases.

Anonymous said...

The smart and talented people already left. They’re living outside the city and eventually this will affect NYC economy as it’s software engineer friendly city status is removed and all that earned income is spent in other states and corps begin moving their headquarters. First no one’s coming back to the office. Then no one’s coming back to the city. Enjoy your final days of industry in the name of making a buck.

Michael Duggan said...

A residential caste plot is leading the societal hazards we're currently observing. When only money leads proposal, just the few are left, who will see to their comfort and safety, private security? Violence erodes advantage of elitist culture, unless authoritarianism subverts liberties. Choice replaced for, coercive control.
The Village of Jane Jacobs, swapped for George Orwell's dystopia. Bloomberg's (Manhattan is a Luxury Product) fully realized. History could be transformed if propriety conquered overt prosperity. Wealth is most efficient when many flourish, and most destructive when just a few game the system.

Anonymous said...

Rental price is not just determined by the unit. It is even more so by the NEIGHBORHOOD. E Village has turned into a war zone, w/ trash strewn everywhere, graffiti endemic and a sharply RISING dearth of core amenities. Real restaurants of yore dont exist. No decent diners. Even dry cleaners and shoe repair ? Gone. Not to mention where there used to be 6 grocery stores in the area? Now there is ONE. Delis dont count. Even the big chains are closing daily- like CVS, Kmart, Walgreens, Associated... Used to be an excellent car service w/ reasonable fees. Now? Closed. Add in the current PSA threats of a nuclear detonation of a device that's been in the news? WTH are these kids thinking? All the prices of 5th Ave- and none of the goods. Even in 60-70s when it was wild here, there were tons of bohemian clubs, cafes, bookstores. Now its cluttered trashed shell. 6300 for rent? a bad joke.

Anonymous said...

I have lived in the East Village for 25 years in a rent stabilized apt . I have never seen the neighborhood so filthy and covered in horrible graffiti! It is also home to so many junkies living in the street shooting up in broad daylight . You also cannot even get a package delivered bc it is sure to be stolen from your hallway….
Only reason I stay is bc I have cheap rent! Cannot imagine paying 4k for a 450 sq ft crooked tenement built in 1900.

Anonymous said...

We have union market , Whole Foods, key food and trader joes’s which is very affordable . Way more options than when I moved in 25 years ago! I do agree it is filthy and covered in horrendous graffiti.. not to mention the influx of junkies in past 2-3 years.

Anonymous said...

I am a local rental agent. We are a small boutique brokerage highly specialized in EV / LES for multiple decades supported 20 of who we think are the best small landlords w clean business practices and clean buildings. We are picky about this and as such we have a 5 star rating on zillow (not the usual for a broker). My boss is a good vibes only guy. We are NOT your normal brokerage. We price all our exclusives at what we think is fair, significantly below market rate I'd say. Most of us are native New Yorkers and burners passionate about life, good karm good vibes and passionate about the hood to the utmost extent. I'm from Queens been living on Ave C / D 20 years.
I will tell you the two major things fueling this market.
#1 remote work due to pandemic - any dumb rich MF nobody from nowheresville, middle earth I mean America that always wanted to live here now can..75% of all our calls (we get probably a thousand a week even though we are small) are like this, and 75% of those are from.LA, second San Fran. LA just THE WORST. Like WTF is in the water there. Zero values, morals, the flakiest, just THE WORST and somehow they still think they're cool. Literally why is All of LAmoving here. STOP. STAY IN LA.
We write "LA"" in the book or "dick" if the client is a dick and no one has them. We take responsibility for the role we have in who we are placing here. We are not just about money. My boss runs a popular neighborhood blog.. These people will be our neighbors too and we don't want to live with dicks. Again, we are unheard of compared to most agents / brokerages.
#2 - colleges. Did you know NYC is the #1 university town in NYC? That is just plain wrong, disgusting, PERVERTED. These schools realized they're doing better in the real estate game than the educational game. The dorm prices are so outrageous that even the rich brats come begging us for apartments. I for one try to avoid helping rich students wherever possible. I'm 6th generation elation nyc I DESPISE NYU. These awful rich brats from nowhere are 100% destroying our city.

Anonymous said...

I'd just like to say how interesting it is to have a variety of viewpoints on this topic. Does anyone here know if you can fight to avoid "renovations" in your rent-stabilized unit as a pre-text for removal? As in something being framed as a building-wide upgrade, such as electric? Can you fight to opt out?

Not to add fuel to the fire, but in my 8-unit building at least two tenants have recently been forced out bc they had Covid-19 rent agreements and their lease renewals were denied. Neither tried to fight to stay. But a change from single owner to management company has brought neglect, filth and no repairs or maintenance for those who remain. They just want the cash, but at least they're not burning oil in the summertime just to make you uncomfortable. Though they do turn the water pressure to nothing. People have no idea what NYers go through.

Anonymous said...

Don’t forget about C-Town!

Anonymous said...

Recently, a friend of mine was looking here in my hood of the EV for a one bedroom for six days straight with a broker she found online whom showed her many places. After numerous showings and three offers on other units where she was rejected due to other applications, she finally located something near Tompkins Park; however, she was blown away at what it would cost for her to move in to this unit. The application fee was $200. The price for the small apartment was 3k for 500 square feet for a two year lease. She was responsible for paying first, last month, and a deposit, which was 9k, and 25% of the annual years rent to the broker, which amounted to an additional 9k. Mind you this was a four floor walkup in a decent building in a nice unit, not over the top, freshly painted, decent bathroom, small kitchen, one closet, facing south to the street, and exposed brick on one side, with a family with a newborn as her neighbors. With hiring movers, the total bill for this venture amounted to: $20,100. To move into a small one bedroom apartment in the EV in a walkup with no amenities. We are both from LA where there are no brokers to move into an apartment. One just contacts the property company or landlord and looks at the apartment. To spend 9k for a brokers fee is OBSCENE and should be unlawful. Yet, she was in a tight spot and needed a place ASAP and in this neighborhood to be close to the headquarters where her company is located. In many places in the US, twenty grand is a down payment for a mortgage on a home. My friend works in tech and pulls in over 100k a year, but still it's a lot of money to pay. She had to supply several documents, dive into her savings, supply credit references, reports, background checks, and whatnot. Imagine if you don't have access to resources or full time employment or familial support, WTF does one do to afford living here, even in a basic apartment? Insane! I feel landlords are taking advantage of people and the situation just a bit in my opinion. She is afraid that in two years, her rent might be doubled, so she is looking to invest, and place a down payment on a condo instead of wasting money on rent. Something has to change in our city and the way housing is addressed in a fair and accessible way.

Anonymous said...

Um, because human beings matter? Because humans shouldn’t be homeless to serve the greed of landlords? Because unfettered money-grabbing doesn’t make the world a better place?

Anonymous said...

It's up to us to decide whether society has to serve markets or whether markets should serve society. It's up to us to create a framework that protects community, the social fabric that creates trust over time. Or a framework that allows that people can get kicked out as soon as their rents exceeds their ability to pay, to loose the friendship and the bonds they have formed.

The road to change might not be straightforward but we can chose whether we vote for politicians dependent on campaign donations from moneyed interests or go the extra-mile to vote for those who don't, who e.g. don't get any of the big donations from real estate interests.

Anonymous said...

To 11:30: But she paid the crazy broker's fee, right? Which means that the market demand is working, and her giving into the insanity of that demand helps none of us. Twenty grand for a 4th-story walk-up in a no-frills apt.? Frankly, it doesn't sound smart. The only ones winning this game are the brokers. Also, worst time to negotiate. She should have couch-surfed until the dead of winter for a (slightly) better deal or at least a better bargaining position.

Anonymous said...

The problem is that at these high prices, the next tenants will HAVE to be multiple roommates rather than a couple or family.

Anonymous said...

There is and endless supply of smart and talented people. But , yes, the more scrappy people are in the suburbs reminiscing about their days living in the city. Ebb and flow. It is a bummer that the small businesses and humans not focused on making money are gone. It might be fun to find somewhere similar in a completely different country. Good things happen when things are shaken up. Obviously I am not referring to chain store alley on 14 th or the new bro hood. Maybe we will find somewhere better, with less drama, and make that the new place for people to want to gentrify . (Hopefully after we are dead)