NYC median rents, which include condos, townhomes and single family homes in addition to apartments — continue to pick up momentum as the affordability gap widens even more.
Prices accelerated by 3.7 percent or $123 year-over-year to $3,491 in the second quarter, a report from Realtor finds. In addition, rents in the metro are 22.4 percent elevated versus pre-pandemic levels.
Rentals with 0-2 units saw the highest rise, increasing by 4.2 percent to $3,436. For three bedrooms or more, the boost was only 0.2 percent.
By borough, Brooklyn led the annual gains, at 6 percent. All other boroughs showed positive gains as well; Manhattan came in at 3.3 percent higher, Queens at 2.7 and the Bronx at one percent.
While that may seem like welcoming news, affordability remains an issue for NYC residents. Median rents eat up 55 percent of an average household income in the city; for context, that's well above the 30 percent recommended for households, according to Realtor. About 70 percent of NYC residents opt to rent.
"At the borough level, affordability challenges were most severe in the Bronx—even though it has the lowest median rents—highlighting the persistent affordability struggles faced by lower-income households," Realtor wrote.
With the cost of living sky-high, primary voters chose Zohran Mamdani as their Democratic mayoral nominee. One of his key campaign promises is to freeze the rent, a power the Mayor has by appointing members to serve on the New York City Rent Guidelines Board. However, Realtor estimated that if income grows at a steady three percent annual rate, it would take 20 years to make housing affordable in the city again, with rents staying the same. Even at five percent growth, it would take more than 12 years.
While Mamdani will likely be the next Mayor of Gotham — more must be done to make NYC an affordable destination for housing.
"To meaningfully improve affordability in a reasonable time frame, multiple levers must be activated—especially increasing the supply of affordable rentals, which can help bring overall rent levels down," Realtor explained.
Some other policies Mamdani is running that could improve income for households include raising wages in the city to $30 per hour and building 200,000 rent-stabilized, permanently affordable homes during the next decade. NYC Voters will decide this November on who their next Mayor will be and how to tackle the crisis.
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