New York’s New Rentals: Smaller Apartments, More Perks

Why does the government owe anyone cheap rent? The complainers seem to think that the rents are outrageous.......which they are.....but if no one rents them the rents will drop. There are plenty of places in the boroughs that are very reasonable and need gentrification. Farther afield we have Paterson N.J. and many other locations in North Jersey where rent is cheap and access to the city is easy.

The sheer architectural banality of most of these new apartment buildings is overwhelming. Most are too boring and indistinct to even warrant the term "ugly." But to my mind they are a far greater insult to the city than the preposterous rents. We all don't have to live in them, but we all have to look at them. At least when we're not looking at our smart phones.

The picture of QLIC and adjacent buildings in Long Island City, is a typical example of the spirit-deadening streetscapes developing, particularly in the "hot" areas of the outer boroughs. I'm old enough to remember when a very nice two- or three-bedroom apartment in most of the better neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens could be had for about $225+ a month. Usually in a building with some character. Your "heated pergola" was your huge bathroom with luxurious cast iron tubs and steam radiators. The sun got through to the streets. You played basketball in an unsanitized, unrestricted neighborhood park.

"Amenity creep." Perfect phrase for a creepy time in New York City.

I just rented a great 1 bedroom 645 sq ft. 1 bedroom for my daughter on the UWS. W 70's. vibrant .exciting ..What a fabulous city we have.

$3400 a month Pre war, and we love it..

I prefer to own.

My 2 bedroom Eastside duplex is now avail. for 2.6 mill.
I paid 1.3 in 2007..

No rush to sell. so have a great day

Designer yuppieholes, anyone?

Do all these new units have washer/dryer? That's more important to me than a restaurant on site.

If my salary allowed me to live in an apt costing $1500 or more, I would. Not everyone is earning $80K+ so getting in debt over your living expenses and other things is a necessary evil.

And MAYBE our infrastructure will catch up one day, although it seems to be getting short shrift from City Hall, despite all the upzoning talk. I guess space in schools, adequate sanitation, nearby health care services, green space, etc aren't the kinds of "amenities" that count (after all, many developers have been quoted recently as saying that infrastructure "isn't their problem"). And as long as renters are willing to pay (because how would they even really know what to ask, even re schools), and as long as existing neighborhood residents keep being delegitimized as stakeholders, there's no incentive to address these issues proactively, before the highrises go up.

"The market for tiny apartments will be tested when My Micro NY debuts at 335 East 27th Street later this year with 55 prefabricated apartments of between 260 and 360 square feet, smaller than what zoning laws ordinarily allow."

Each wall of a square 260-square-foot apartment is about 16 feet long and those of a 360-square-foot apartment is about 19 feet. This is about the same amount of room in a typical RV camping trailer with a small fridge, stove and shower/toilet combo, and a convertible bed/dining table (no laundry facilities). It's astonishing that landlords can get well over $2,000 per month rent for these cubbyholes. The median household income in NYC is only $50,711 (according to statistics for 2010-12), so these high-priced apartments are obviously intended exclusively for the higher-income residents of NYC.

Stories like this, which are run at least once a week, are really just advertisement for the one percenters, who own these hamster cages with granite countertops. Money and jobs are flowing to certain cities now as the under-employed young try to get started on life. I just wish the place with jobs, NYC, wasn't gouging and profiteering on these kids.

These apartments are still not as much as New York taxpayers pay for the homeless people's $3,000 a month per bunk-bed, in jammed-packed single's dorms, and $5,000 a month 10 x 10 family shelter rooms....both accommodations ran on the Maximum Security Prison Model.

have you ever noticed that the people in post-apocalyptic sic fi movies always live in tiny apartments? But don't worry. If you are feeling cramped and claustrophobic you can always go bowling. The same thing is happening in San Francisco and just like in New York the newspapers love it.

Interesting article. The "average" price may be misleading though, especially when these new buildings are being packed with sooo many amenities. With new rental websites like leasebreak.com and urban compass, consumers will continue to find cheaper apartments. To use an analogy, if a whole bunch of rolex watches flooded the watch market, the average purchase price for watches would probably go up. Doesn't necessarily mean rents are going up across the city.

Oh great............more over educated, trustafarian, mid-westerners can move here. Just what we need.

Not NYC, but nonetheless relevant given the proximity to NYC -- Jersey City's 10,000+ rental unis coming to market at the same time. Same formula -- small on size, but big on amenities targeting a mix of young families, couples and singletons, within short walk of rail and boat transit.

I don't want any of this. I would hate to live in a place that reminded me of being in a hotel or an office. I can't believe people are willing to pay so much for so little. A lot of times the construction of these buidlings is shoddy, at best.

Put me down as ready to scream. Instead of catering to the people with money to burn, how about building apartments for: 1) the families that will rent in the same place for 30 years (yes, some kind of rent regulation) and 2) the young newcomers who are sharing with 3 or 4 others? Not everybody in this city is either rich or at the poverty level and eligible for subsidized housing.

"There is very little fat, so to speak,” he said, estimating such units could go for $2,800 a month in a market where monthly rents for a typical one-bedroom start at $3,000 and a studio begins at $2,600."

Don't we love the way these figures are thrown around? Is $2600 really considered "reasonable?" Who develops these concepts? And doesn't anyone ever include the constantly escalating rentals every year or two, depending upon lease renewals? Where do they end? Maybe landlords should hold focus groups to get some honest input from their tenants. Remember focus groups? Whatever happened to them?

"Facing such high rents, New Yorkers expect to be impressed"?

Actually, many real NYers are leaving town, DEpressed by the absurd cost of living for anyone not in the 1%!

And pre-fab mini-box apartments as another "new new thing"? Why not sell cardboard boxes in the street, "in great neighborhood, great views, close to transportation...."?

The global rich will gobble these up as pied-a-terres. No real estate taxes, a win-win for them. And big loss for us.

These amenities are nothing but gimmicks for the landlords to have residents part with even more of their money. I'm willing to bet that the majority of these "perks" go unused, for the only amenity that is valued most by both parties is the one that is most scarce: space.

Unless there is massive pent up demand, bringing 13,000 apartment units onto the market in a single year is going to create a glut in either the new apartments, or the old ones people leave to rent the new ones. How many people out there are looking for a $2,000 studio? How many new jobs are being created at $60,000-$80,000/yr. to fill these apartments (the low end ones).

If you are in the rental market, hold out a few months for the 1 month free offers that will surely come your way as competition for qualified renters increases.

Unless wages significantly increase over the next decade, rents will have to decrease, or buildings will have trouble attracting renters. As the people with rent controlled apartments die, or move away, finding enough income qualified renters, who actually want to live in a small box, will become harder and harder.