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Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

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Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#431

Post by ch4s3 »

j0hnyl wrote: post #229
m_ke wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no NIMBY but places like NYC will never be able to build enough to outpace demand.

I think they can. The thing is the corporate landlords would rather have their high rises sit empty than rent the units at reasonable rates.

NYC rental vacancy is only a bit over 4% city wide. The national average is closer to 6%. It is very expensive to build in New York, and projects can be scuttled at any time due to angry neighbors or intervention by city council. The EIS process adds a ton of cost to new construction. As a result of this risk banks require high returns in NYC than in most places in order to secure loans. If you take a development loan the rental price for the units is written into the loan.

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#432

Post by kristjansson »

SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #252
Ekaros wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get all that online. So it might make sense to move these communities to somewhere very very cheap. Or even distribute them around.

Tell me you haven’t attended an artist commune without telling me you haven’t attended an artist commune. There’s very little like seeing someone’s performance art in person, or walking through an art installation with other artsy friends, or attending a workshop (the fees paying local artists).

Not even so esoteric as communes and performance art! Even 'normal' galleries, theater, music, are inherently analogue, physical experiences that don't translate to digital reproduction.

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#433

Post by lbrito »

afavour wrote: post #43

As a New Yorker myself I do wonder where this ends up. Me and my relatively well paid friends can afford to live here but we depend on a lot of lower paid folks for the city to function. Grocery store clerks, delivery drivers, coffee baristas, all that sort of thing. Maybe right now they have a half hour subway ride to work and that’s acceptable. But as they get pushed further and further out it’s going to break down…

>no one is going to commute 90 minutes for a minimum wage job when there are plenty of jobs available elsewhere

A few things:

1. The premise there (when there are plenty of jobs elsewhere) is kinda flimsy -- its already easier to find jobs in larger cities (that's why people move there), and nothing guarantees this won't get worse

2. Yes, there is a breaking point where people can't afford (in terms of time and/or money) a long and/or expensive commute. Humans have a workaround for that. Its called slums.

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#434

Post by weeksie »

greggsy wrote: post #427
weeksie wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My partner and I have been agonizing over this exact dilemma. We have an income number and an expenses number and when those cross a certain point, we've gotta go somewhere else. So there's a very good chance that we'll immigrate somewhere in a few years. But yeah, try as we might, we couldn't come up with another US city that either of us would want to live in.

To me, only other places that compare to NYC are Singapore and Sydney. Great food in Singapore, great weather (usually) in Sydney. The people can be a bit busy in Singapore though. Certainly no NYC, but they ticked all my recreation, arts, food, people and transport boxes. Unfortunately, they’re all so goddamn expensive to live in.

I lived in Sydney for five years! Great city. Lived there before I came here.

My partner and I are looking at Madrid. But yeah, there is no other city in the world that's going to be like NY. Maybe London but of course that has the same problems.

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#435

Post by standardUser »

throwk8s wrote: post #420
ctvo wrote: post #390

The problem for me, as a long time NYC resident, is that there's no other place in America I want to live even with work from home as a possibility. I like mass transit. I like not owning a car. I like that the city is generally safer than the rest of America. I like that it's the center for tech on the east coast, the arts for the entire country, and finance for most of the world. I like that we generally get along…

People that want to be conspicuous have to display their success where it's going to be seen. Living in a place that is "central" in so many ways is a competition to see who can hang in there. The only way to stay is to keep winning bigger.

What? Most people I know in Manhattan are just people with jobs who enjoy living in the city. There is no "displaying their success" or "keep winning bigger" mentality to be found in my sprawling NYC-based friend group. Sounds like something from TV or the movies.

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#436

Post by simonsarris »

ctvo wrote: post #390

The problem for me, as a long time NYC resident, is that there's no other place in America I want to live even with work from home as a possibility. I like mass transit. I like not owning a car. I like that the city is generally safer than the rest of America. I like that it's the center for tech on the east coast, the arts for the entire country, and finance for most of the world. I like that we generally get along…

> I like that the city is generally safer than the rest of America.

Coming from New Hampshire: this is just fantastically untrue. NYC is about one hundred times more violent than where I live. It is so thoroughly not the same that I can usually tell when people come from cities simply based on how nervous they are. I think most people don't realize how badly it affects them, or how violent cities are versus "the rest of America".

Some crime stats: https://imgur.com/a/qDKqC59

edit: NYC has 5.8 violent crimes per 1,000 people, which is 45% more violent than the USA median (4.0). I have no idea how 45% more violent got a reputation as "safer than the rest of America" but it's not true.

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#437

Post by nickv »

DeathArrow wrote: post #248

Higher interest rates should lower the prices of homes in the long run, which should translate into lower rents.

Actually, that's not true in a strange perverse way. Higher interest rates = higher mortgage rates = higher monthly costs to own = More people being stuck in the rental market = more demand in an already over-heated rental market.

Remember housing prices going down doesn't turn to a lower monthly cost (it keeps at pace typically). This is pure wealth loss (which is the point so we can cut inflation).

This is already happening in NYC (and this article is the outcome of that).

More details: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/11/business/economy/rent-inf...

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#438

Post by ethanbond »

lucaspm98 wrote: post #381
nix0n wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But somebody has to maintain the property, somebody has to prioritize upgrades and improvements, somebody has to cut the grass In many buildings these things are simply not done.

If a landlord does not maintain the property, over the long run they will not be able to charge the same rent versus a similar, maintained unit. I've used this to my advantage before. I moved into a building that needed a fresh coat of paint and had poor reviews of their maintenance and saved ~10-15% from market rent because I didn't care about appearances and am handy enough to fix a leaky faucet, etc. myself.

Sure they’ll lose relative to the place next door, but they’ll win relative to their same unit 10 years ago because the land underneath their building (and the amenities around it) have increased in value so dramatically.

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#439

Post by paulgb »

TheDudeMan wrote: post #418
ctvo wrote: post #390

The problem for me, as a long time NYC resident, is that there's no other place in America I want to live even with work from home as a possibility. I like mass transit. I like not owning a car. I like that the city is generally safer than the rest of America. I like that it's the center for tech on the east coast, the arts for the entire country, and finance for most of the world. I like that we generally get along…

The city is safer?

Despite the popular Murdoch-media narrative that big cities have become hellholes, yes. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-06-07/is-new...

Re: Manhattan rents cross $5k threshold for first time

#440

Post by jeffbee »

dragonwriter wrote: post #380
rendang wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People who are not white can rule out a happy existence in 90% of American cities Why in the world would that be the case?

Because America is built on, and much of it (and not only the historically obvious bits) is still drowning in, racism.

It is not just the racism but also practical facts. There are American cities without a black barber. A given city may lack the food culture or language of some ethnic group. The incredible whiteness of some cities is self-perpetuating.
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