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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

#801

Post by colinmhayes »

bern4444 wrote: post #444

The primary driver of my view on real estate is that it should not be treated as an investment grade security. Attempts to leverage real estate as an investment grade security should be outlawed by the government. Owners of rental units should be limited to a maximum number of units at any given time. For an individual I would say 5 to 10 units. For a corporation, I would want it limited to something like 50. The goa…

NYC apartment vacancy is at 4% compared to 6% nationally. The “vacant apartments and foreign owners are cashing rents to go up meme” is a straight up conspiracy theory.

We need to build more units. It’s really that simple. Any regulation that leads to less units should be heavily reconsidered. Limiting the number of units someone can own would be horrible for increasing supply.

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

#802

Post by woodruffw »

simonsarris wrote: post #436
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…

Where did these numbers come from? You linked to a screenshot of a spreadsheet, but not its source.

From a random search, I got 2.8 violent crimes per 1,000 people citywide, which means all 5 boroughs. For just New York county (Manhattan), the most official statistic I could find is 4.57 in 2019[2].

[1]: https://www.lx.com/community/nyc-crime-rates-how-dangerous-i...

[2]: https://criminaljustice.cityofnewyork.us/individual_charts/v...

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

#804

Post by asdff »

bigyikes wrote: post #23

I’ve had this thought floating around in my head for a while, and it seems wrong, but I’m not completely sure why. I’m hoping someone more knowledgeable might be able to set me straight. Prices on the coasts — like 5k rent — are astronomically high compared to prices in, say, the midwest. This shocks many people. You could easily make the same comparison between the midwest and some non-developed nation. The differen…

Yes and no. They are a sign of development, in that prices are high because there are enough people in the market with enough money to sustain these prices. Its a bad thing however because it means there isn't enough supply to keep prices reasonable for the actual real population versus just the top echelon that can afford these inflated rates on the shortened supply. The sticker shock doesn't matter as much as the relative buying power of hourly wages.

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

#805

Post by Aunche »

asdff wrote: post #785
dgunay wrote: post #665

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't blame them. It can take decades for the kind of change that urbanists want to fully play out, and I bet they would rather experience good city life while they can enjoy it.

Exactly. The bike lane network plan in LA county has been on the books for 10 years now and its still a patchwork mess in the second largest city in this country where you could realistically bike to work every day of the year. There is no hope elsewhere for change. If you don't already have it you won't ever have it or you will be beating sand until you die fighting for a mile of bike lane or a single train line tha…

That kind of proves my point though doesn't it? There is a definite demand for bike lanes. However, civic participation is abysmal for everyone but the elderly who tend to be NIMBYs. If more people pitched in, we wouldn't have to rely the efforts of a few hyper-dedicated individuals.

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

#806

Post by brailsafe »

dcow wrote: post #677
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…

Just to provide a 3rd party reaction here: it sounds like you've circularly reasoned yourself into a trap of your own making. You don't want to live anywhere else because you like NYC . Because no other city is exactly like NYC, you aren't interested in living anywhere else. The reason it's "circular" is because there are cities with good transit, good arts, great food, have a tech scene, and even have financial dist…

I think your last point is an interesting arbitrary distinction, if you're going to make one. While Vancouver is pretty well regarded as a NA city with pretty decent transit infrastructure and other nice qualities, it does basically close after 2am which isn't as nice as a night owl. Transit stops almost completely around that time too.

Edit: None of this comment was meant to detract, just a comparison in agreement to the city I'm nore familiar with. Maybe Toronto's different

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

#807

Post by asdff »

joshlemer wrote: post #236
ubermonkey wrote: post #126

I keep hearing the notion that we should prohibit corporations from owning residential property, and I kind of like the idea.

Eh, I think the ability to internalize the costs and profits of an apartment building allows for a more efficient and incentive aligned situation than a bunch of condo owners with a condo board where there's a kind of tragedy of the commons to look after the building.

I can tell you've never lived in a corporate owned mega apartment complex and had a maintenance issue

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

#808

Post by ryandrake »

simonsarris wrote: post #436
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…

> 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, at least in today's culturally polarized environment, there are a lot of people who would be understandably nervous and on guard traveling to rural America, and it has nothing to do with what crime looks like in their home city.

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

#809

Post by asdff »

vondur wrote: post #624

As someone from California, I've always assumed that Manhattan was sort of comparable to something live Beverly Hills/Century City here in Los Angeles. Basically, you had to be fairly wealthy to live there.

It's more like Hollywood as a whole. You have wealthy areas where the landed gentry live, and you have extremely impoverished areas where multiple working class families share a bedroom in a run down apartment and can't save enough to leave and find better prospects.

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

#810

Post by Auracle »

esoterica wrote: post #519
irrational wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had similar thoughts. I live on the west coast and feel so safe that I don't even lock the front door to my house, ever. I wonder if OP feels safe enough to always have their front door unlocked.

Quoted post unavailable.

Woof, the elitism in what you said was palpable.

I’m in a rural area. I wear my seatbelt, along with everyone else I know. I don’t even drink. The only people I’ve ever known that have driven drunk were dumb teenagers. I lock my door, but I not only kept my high school car unlocked - I left the keys in it.

For two years I did that, and the only time it was “stolen” was when my friends skipped class, used it to drive to the bakery for some doughnuts, and deliberately parked it elsewhere as a prank. Do you really think that’s how it would have worked out in any major city?

I remember it being major news when a few houses were burgled when I was a kid.

Now, the biggest town in the county? Crime happens there all the time. It’s only 20,000 people but a lot of them are…lower rung.

I think that’s the real difference. When I walk in a major city or even that town, crime might happen to me. In the 20 mile radius around my house it’s very unlikely, and I very rarely see a cop unlike in NYC.

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