StreetEasy Study Shows Affordable NYC Apartments Are Getting Harder To Find
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It's no secret that New York City is an expensive place to live.
Now, a new StreetEasy report suggests that it may be harder than ever to find an apartment you can afford, even in the places where people have traditionally been able to get a deal.
We all know rents keeping rising, but StreetEasy decided to take an interesting angle by taking a look at the salary you would have to earn to live in a neighborhood.
Traditionally, people went to the outer boroughs looking for deals. That used to land people in Brooklyn, but StreetEasy's numbers show the most affordable areas are now seeing dramatic rent increases.
In 2014, you only needed to make $51,000 a year to live comfortably in East Flatbush, StreetEasy says. Now, the median salary needed is $68,000.
Five years ago, renters could find deals in Prospect Lefferts Gardens if they made $58,000 a year. Now, they need to make about $74,000.
In Flatbush, the salary needed went from about $56,000 in 2014 to $70,000 today.
"In the past, a lot of people were moving to Williamsburg and Bushwick, and as those areas get more expensive, then more and more people are moving south to these other neighborhoods, and as a result, we're seeing rents increase in the outer boroughs as far as they go," Nancy Wu, an economist at StreetEasy, told CBSN New York's Ali Bauman.
Queens is another area people searched for lower rents.
Now, StreetEasy's numbers show in Ridgewood, you need to make more than $78,000 to live there now. Five years ago, it was $60,000.
In Flushing, it's $69,000 now, compared to $58,000 in 2014.
In Kew Gardens, about $61,000 a year was the median in 2014. It's $70,000 now.
"Queens, we're seeing the same trends, where before people were looking around in areas in Brooklyn, and now that Bushwick and areas in Brooklyn are getting more expensive, people are looking at Ridgewood, the next neighborhood over. And as more and more demand goes into Ridgewood, then we see prices in their going as well," Wu said. "And we're seeing the same demand come in Flushing and Kew Gardens, where there's a lot of new developments and renovations of older apartment buildings, and that's driving up rents as well."
If you want to stay in Manhattan, some of the northern neighborhoods have traditionally been associated with great rental deals.
StreetEasy's report found that the salary median needed to be comfortable in Central Harlem was $68,000 in 2014 and jumped up to $82,000 this year.
In Washington Heights, the salary needed in 2014 was $60,000. Now, it's $72,000.
In East Harlem, the livable salary was $67,000. Now, it's almost $80,000.
Wu says rent in Brooklyn neighborhoods have spiked the most.
To read StreetEasy's full report, visit streeteasy.com/blog.