This Week in Rent: Highs & Lows Across New York City
How residents of the wealthiest neighborhoods make a living, what's new at housing court, and more rent-related news from the nation’s most expensive city.
If there’s one thing New York City is known for, it’s the extremes. New Yorkers are proud to call the biggest, the loudest, the busiest city their home. More billionaires live in the city than anywhere else in the world, however, it also has the largest homeless population in the United States. It regularly tops the charts for highest city rents but is also the municipal home of the largest public housing development ever built.
This week, the RentWire team took a look at the highest highs and the lowest lows of rent and living in New York City.
They Live in NYC’s Most Expensive Neighborhoods — What Do They Do For a Living?
We visited New York City’s wealthiest neighborhoods and asked them two simple questions: Do you live here? What do you do?
What We Overheard at Housing Courts This Week
The Bronx
An employee at the Bronx housing court explained that there has recently been a big surge in landlord lockout cases. The court is mainly conducting cases virtually and is slowly conducting cases in person again. However, people are welcome to use computers at the court to attend online cases if they are unable to do so at home.
Manhattan
The New York County housing court has seen lots of bad cases, but according to one police officer overlooking the waiting area, the biggest issue at the moment involves tenants suing their landlords. Many of the individuals attending the housing court were there to file an HP Action, which is a type of case that involves a tenant suing their landlord over building repairs and harassment. HP Actions can also be filed when landlords resort to verbal harassment and even remove items from the tenant’s space, as one tenant explained that his mail had been taken away by his landlord. Something we found interesting: there was a counter for Spanish speakers, but no counters for other language speakers. We saw an Asian woman struggling to explain her situation in English. Language barriers can be a big matter at the court.
Brooklyn
At Kings County court, the most common issues being filed concern non-payments, holdovers — when tenants remain in rentals beyond the terms of their lease — and HP Actions. While Kings County has begun to resume in-person cases, attorney Edna Mcgoldrick explains that Brooklyn’s Red Hook court is still not physically open because of the pandemic, but the court is aiming to reopen soon now that Covid vaccines are available.
Queens
At the Queens housing court, there are limited in-person cases and the option for virtual sessions. Tenants are filing against landlords for repairs and lockouts, and cases filed by landlords target tenants for late or no rent payments.
The Priciest and Cheapest Rents This Week
Most Expensive Rent on StreetEasy: 5 Bed, 5.5 Bath, Midtown, $100,000
The Cheapest Rent on StreetEasy: Studio, Fordham, $1,225
The Most Expensive 1 Bedroom on StreetEasy: 1 Bed, 1.5 Bath, Essex House, $13,800
The Cheapest 1 Bedroom on StreetEasy: Basement 1 Bed, 1 Bath, Inwood, $1,250
RentWire Index
An NYC rent-themed spin-off of the Harper’s Index
The job with the highest-paying annual salary in New York state: anesthesiologists ($237,380)
Lowest paying: shampooists ($26,640)
Percent of residents who make salaries between $30,000 to $50,000 who were severely rent burdened in 2018: 25%
Who make less than $15,000: 72.5%
Who make more than $99,000: 0.0%
Minimum wage in NYC: $15 an hour
Livable wage for a single person with no children in Manhattan/New York County: $21.77 an hour
Increase in median rent in NYC from 2005 to 2012: 11%
Increase in real income of renters in NYC from 2005 to 2012: $1,000
Household income growth (inflation-adjusted) from 2006 to 2019 for the top 20%: 25.9%
For the bottom 20%: 5.1%
Homeownership rate in the Upper East Side: 35.7%
Homeownership rate in East Harlem: 5.5%
Number of condos, single-family homes, and luxury properties sold in the Hamptons in the 1st quarter of 2020: 884
Number of rent-stabilized units lost in 2020: 2,353
Wealthiest zip code: 10005: Financial District, in Manhattan
Poorest zip code: 10453: Morris Heights, in the Bronx
Increase in homeless single adults since 10 years ago: 103%
Primary cause of homelessness: lack of affordable housing
Median 1 Bedroom Rents on StreetEasy
Five Things to Know: Rent This Week
Small businesses across the city’s shopping districts are facing rising rents and landlords are demanding increases on renewals. For some business owners, the rent can jump by a couple of thousand dollars from one year to the next.
NYPD found vans with New Jersey license plates parked in the East Village and Chelsea being used as illegal AirBnBs and impounded the vehicles.
City Council Member Ben Kallos proposed a bill that would require landlords to pay for tenants’ internet, in addition to already paying for their heat and hot water. Buildings with one or more units would have until Jan. 1, 2026, to adhere to the bill if it passes.
In 2021, just under 300 homeless families used Special One-Time Assistance (SOTA) grants to move out of NYC. “It was the first time that the majority of SOTA recipients remained in the five boroughs,” City Limit reports.
1,505 commercial buildings in Brooklyn are set to become residential apartments, leading the national trend of apartment conversions, according to RENTCafe Blog.