According to AMNewYork, a recent study by StreetEasy shows that current New Yorkers living in market-rate units are burdened in paying their rents. The study reveals that as much as 60% of their income goes to paying the apartments alone. With the median income rate of $2,700, as noted by the New York Post, that is a great amount of money just being eaten up by rent!
This indicates that New Yorkers have twice the rent-to-income ratio compared to the average American renter. The study was done by Alan Lightfeldt, an expert in data scientific studies. With data collected from the U.S Census and the listings from StreetEasy, a real estate company, which Lightfeldt did the study for, it was revealed that many of the families residing in Manhattanville and Red Hook are facing rental woes due to increasing apartment rates.
According to Lightfeldt, "affordability is a neighborhood story". This goes back to the saying, "Location, location, location!" is what defines your business, just like how your neighborhood can affect much of your expenses.
The top 3 median rent-to-income ratios are: Brooklyn with 60%, Bronx with 52% and Manhattan with 48.8%. It should be noted that the study focuses on market-rate units only, not including analyses from rent-controlled units.
It is also predicted that this ratio could still go up because New York's demand for housing is still going up, as evidenced by the New York's continually developing of micro apartments such as My Micro NY to answer the increasing demand for housing.
What's worse than this is the difficulty of several New Yorkers to become home owners. The sad reality is that after paying rent, what's left must still be allocated for several needs like health, education, living allowances, transportation cost, entertainment and self-development.
With this, a continued subsidy is still needed for New Yorkers to meet their needs, according to Lightfeldt.
Another imminent issue is the expiration of New York's rent stabilization law, which could create more worries for the renting population. On the other side of the coin are landlords and elected officials wanting this to happen, so that NYC renters could also save more and provide for their family, alleviating the burden of paying increasing taxes on property leasing, in the process.
If this happens, more New Yorkers will suffer because almost a million units will not be covered by such rent stabilization law, according to AMNewYork. If they become market-rate units, many other aspects will be impacted.
For example, the bustling city may be busier because New Yorkers might have to take more jobs to compensate for the additional increase. Health problems may also rise due to stress, affecting families in the end. Another scenario would be New Yorkers going to other areas, and the cycle goes on as housing demands for these areas pick up.
