The fall in rental prices during the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed many New Yorkers to finally get the apartment of their dreams. Two years later, they pay the price for the upgrade.
Manhattan rental inventory rose to 31,412 apartments in the second quarter of this year, a 33% increase from the first quarter and seemingly welcome news for a city that has recently seen more Airbnb rentals than listings. apartments. According to a recent report by StreetEasyhowever, 44% of this inventory comes from overpriced tenants who initially rented their apartment during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
At the time, landlords were offering “pandemic discounts” to fill vacant homes after many New Yorkers decided to leave town. Now the same landlords are looking to make up for the lost money with steep increases, forcing many people to abandon the apartments they acquired during the market crisis.
While some tenants may have left for non-financial reasons, they are facing one of the toughest rental markets in years. The average rent in Manhattan recently hit $4,100 per month, which was the highest on StreetEasy’s record and equaled 55% of median household income for a resident of the district.
Apartment prices in New York City have risen at the fastest rate in more than a decade, and soaring rents in Manhattan are also affecting “cheaper” boroughs like Queens and Brooklyn. Overpriced renters are looking to find a home outside of Manhattan, driving prices up and inventory down in Queens and Brooklyn, reports StreetEasy.
In Queens, rental inventory fell for the fifth consecutive quarter, down 9% from the previous quarter with 8,984 units available. As a result, the median asking rent in Queens rose to $2,600 at the end of the second quarter, an increase of 13%. In Brooklyn, rents rose 12% to a median of $3,200.
Comments are closed.