Exclusive | NYC’s Smaller, Cheaper Apartments Are in Biggest Demand: Report

When it comes to New York apartment rentals, the most affordable — if less spacious — units are whole.

That’s according to listing portal Realtor.com, which exclusively shared its July rental report with The Post. The findings include the fact that in July, the median rent for two-bedroom zero (or studio) units rose 2.2% year-over-year to $3,322, while the median rent for three-bedrooms and more fell 5%, at $4,996.

In addition to experiencing a noticeable increase in rent, Realtor.com also found that there was “higher demand for smaller rental units” compared to larger apartments.

Demand was also set to increase in “relatively affordable counties” — or, anywhere but Manhattan.

While median asking rents in Manhattan fell for the 13th consecutive month in July — this time by 2% to $4,489, $171 below its pre-pandemic level — median asking rents rose 3.5 % to $3,718 in Brooklyn, 7.7% to $3,175 in the Bronx, and 8.2% to $3,380 in Queens.

Thus, in order to afford to rent an average home in the boroughs, while spending no more than a third of their gross household income on rent, renters had to have made $179,560 a year in Manhattan, $148,720 in Manhattan, respectively per year in Brooklyn, $127,000 in the Bronx and $135,200 in Queens. (Data for Staten Island, the report notes, “are currently under review.”)

Despite the slight decline in rent in Manhattan, the Realtor.com report determined that New York City is, overall, still getting more expensive — a stark contrast to many other American cities.

“In contrast to the overall downward trend seen in the top 50 markets, the median asking rent in NYC continues to rise annually, increasing by $73 or 2.2% from a year ago,” noted the writers of the report. “Although NYC was one of the rental markets that saw the largest rent declines during the pandemic, the average asking rent returned to pre-pandemic levels by spring 2022 and has continued to rise every year since.”

Indeed, the July 2024 median asking rent for all rental properties listed on Realtor.com across all municipalities was $3,421, 13.7% higher than it was before the pandemic in July 2019.