Today being the 5th of the month, the absolute last day we can pay June rent without getting hit with a late fee, we couldn’t help but feel the pinch as we signed and mailed the check. Then as we ate our brown-bag lunch and read the New York Times, we came across the article “What You Can Rent for $1,000,” and our mood sank even further. Usually, we can count on New York to make us feel better about our real estate market, but it turns out that New York rents are more competitive with Chicago’s than many of us would have thought.
A New York Department of Housing Preservation and Development study that found that $1,000 is the average rent for a privately owned, non-regulated one-bedroom in the five boroughs. Units in this price range aren’t even that hard to come by, according to the story, but since neighborhoods outside of Manhattan have a vacancy rate of just .89 percent, you have to be ready to act immediately if you find something you like.
We did take some small comfort from the fact that rents in Manhattan are much higher, ranging from around $1,850 in Hell’s Kitchen to $2,850 in SoHo. And Chicagoans, at least the ones we know, still don’t cruise the obits looking for good finds.