Yanis Berbelis, owner of a Greek restaurant that had been open in Manhattan for 30 years, was forced to close in the fall when the owner of the place increased his rent to $39,000 a month (he was paying $20,000 at the time). Thanks to a neighbor colleague who puts his restaurant’s premises at his disposal at night, Berbelis keeps his business going by offering dinner for a much cheaper rent.
Alex, owner of a marijuana derivatives store, is struggling to pay the $50,000 monthly rent for the space in front of Madison Square Garden. Incidentally, the building where tenant Berbelis Musakas is cooking currently rents a two-bedroom apartment for $7,000 a month, which is higher than the average apartment rent in the city, which is around $4,000 for a one-bedroom house (in July and August it reached $4,200 according to RentHop portal) and $5,500 for two rooms. In circles of acquaintances one often hears of apartment rent increases of up to 1,500 euros. Suddenly and without anesthesia.
The inflation that heated up the economy last year has left an indelible mark on rents. The famine is causing a population exodus greater than that caused by the pandemic, while council housing residents have defaulted on their payments and left the agency in charge, which is municipally owned, on the brink of bankruptcy: the collection plummeted 65% in 2022, a record low for the agency. Life in New York is suffering, both in the open rental market – the largest in the US – and in the sheltered market, where only one in 16 New Yorkers lives.
A National Association of Realtors report released last week notes New Yorkers migrating to cheaper neighborhoods. It’s a national trend, but New York is the quintessential issuer: it’s already driving out more people than it attracts. In 2022, almost 300,000 people left the country, down almost 1% in the demographic balance. In the same year, the state recorded a 50% lower entry rate in a pandemic than in previous years, the same as in 2021.
fitness cast
Add to this the cost of the eligibility casting that the homeowners’ association puts through to the candidate tenant and apartment hunting in New York becomes a challenge. Avoid Manhattan; Moving to the outskirts, despite the added cost of time and money associated with the journey, across the Hudson River in New Jersey, with the added complication of moving… The truth is that the number of newly signed November leases plunged 39% compared to October, the biggest drop since the pandemic began. The goose that lays the golden eggs that has for years been the competition between tenants for a managed apartment — available for rent and in good condition — could soon run out, real estate agencies are warning landlords.
Renting in New York is an extreme manifestation of species’ fierce struggle for resources, the law of the jungle in a skyscraper landscape. If you’re not part of the billionaire crowd on Park Avenue or 57th Street, the new epicenter of high-end housing, your only option is to take part in the annual poll that ranks the worst landlord in the Big Apple. No kidding: the list is then published on the city’s Ombudsman’s website.
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