Are You Losing Your Pandemic Apartment Deal?

( ASSOCIATED PRESS / Associated Press )
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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. We're going to wrap up the show today with a call-in on your reports from the front of rising rents in or around New York City. We are opening the phones, so 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. If you have been looking for an apartment recently, or if you've just rented one, or if you're a landlord, what's going on with the rent? Which apparently is going up and up and up in and around New York City right now, kind of recovering and then some, from the dip at the beginning of the pandemic. Help us report this story, folks. 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692.
We're asking this question, for example, following a recent New York Times piece called Rents Are Roaring Back in New York City. That story cites the online listing websites Apartment List and StreetEasy on a few key figures on apartment rentals right now. Here they are. Rent in the city has risen 33% between January 2021 and January 2022. If that's accurate, wow. Rents up by a third in one year from January '21 to January '22. That's double the national average, which is still high, about 18%, and the highest increase among the 100 largest cities in the country, we are experiencing in New York.
This increase has put median rents in the city close to what they were before the pandemic. The median rent in New York City was $2,895, according to this article, in January of this year. It was $2,900, so basically the exact same thing, in January 2020 just before the pandemic.
If you want to say New York City is back, if you want to celebrate the fact that New York City is back in various ways, at least for now with Omicron having faded as much as it has, and we hope some next variant doesn't come and bring us back to any of the places we've been. Yes, it's great that New York is back, but probably not so great that New York rents are back to what they were before the pandemic. Let's hear some on-the-ground reporting from you on this. Help us report this story, 212-433-WNYC.
How about if you got one of those pandemic deals? Like you moved in somewhere in 2020 when other people were moving out because what the heck? Now you have to renegotiate with your landlord for the next year's rent if you're not in a rent-stabilized apartment. Anybody has a rent hike in place, horror story, or negotiation story, as well as looking for a new place story? 212-433-WNYC. Landlords are welcome to call in. Are you trying to make up for lost time? Did you lose a lot of money in the early phases of the pandemic, and now you're seeing how much you can get?
There was one story in there about somebody negotiating, or the landlords were-- This particular landlord was asking, "Well, how much will you give me for this apartment?" Like they're at an auction. Has anybody experienced anything like that? Help us report the story of rents in and around New York City in March 2022. 212-433-WNYC. We'll take your calls after this?
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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. All right. Let's tell the story of rents bouncing back to pre-pandemic levels in New York City and vicinity, and how that's going in your case. Julia in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hey, Julia. Thank you for calling in.
Julia: Hey, Brian. How's it going? I am listening to you right now and I thought I'd call in because I'm in a building in Greenpoint that my family has been renters at since 2014. The rent went up $900 in January-
Brian Lehrer: Wow.
Julia: -and it's kind of turned my life upside down. I know I'm not unique in this, but yes, this is a real thing that's happening to people. I've had to get two extra jobs because moving is almost just as expensive, if not more expensive, than having to meet that rent increase at the moment. Yes, 900 big buckaroos.
Brian Lehrer: $900 per month more for one apartment?
Julia: Yes.
Brian Lehrer: Did it go down--
Julia: It's a two-bedroom--
Brian Lehrer: Yes, go ahead.
Julia: For a few months. My landlord was pretty forgiving for like three months over the winter, last winter, and he was great, but he also agreed that we would get a new lease because I was just fearful that things would change when the economy [unintelligible 00:05:28], when COVID would disappear. I don't know if it's disappearing but that's a different story. I kept asking for a new lease and he said he'd give us one and he didn't. Then in a very short amount of time he sold the building and insisted the rent wouldn't go up. The new building owner also insisted the rent wouldn't go up, and then overnight I was told, "Oh, just kidding. It's $900 more." Yes.
Brian Lehrer: Wow. I hope it works out, Julia. Hang in there.
Julia: Thank you, Brian.
Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Michelle in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Michelle.
Michelle: Oh my God, hi. [laughs] Sorry, this is cool. I'm a listener, first-time caller. Hi, I also had a similar story to the previous caller. Our landlord died right before the pandemic happened in 2019. We've been working with a building management company since then, who notified us on the 1st that the building was sold and that the rent was doubling. For my case, it was going from $1,800 to $3,500-
Brian Lehrer: Whoa.
Michelle: -and we either had to renew at 90 days or vacate by 90 days. Then they were also offering a stipend to move out at 45 days basically, to get out sooner. I think they want to renovate and so they were citing the rent increase on renovations, but it's just a ploy to get everyone out of the building so they can raise the rent in the area, I think. [crosstalk] Since then-- I'm sorry?
Brian Lehrer: Go ahead. No. Well, I was going to ask if it was a rent-stabilized apartment. Because sometimes that's the way they can raise the rent for the next tenants is if it gets vacated, and then they do a certain amount of renovation and then they can hike the rent a lot. There's a version of that in the law. I'm not sure if that's what was happening in your apartment's case.
Michelle: Actually, the building was declassified from rent-stabilized in 2014. We've become many tenant rights lawyers almost, all of us. There's five different apartments in the building and we've all banded together, figured out the law. Basically, we're at-will or market is what it's called, I guess, so the apartment, they sold the building and now they can do whatever they want to it really. The 90 days is because we've all lived in the building over four years, and in my case six. The 90 days is the notice allowed for us to vacate.
Brian Lehrer: Wow. What are you going to do?
Michelle: Well, I started searching the day they sent the letter. I went on a bunch of different listing appointments and the same conversation where-- They're even talking about the top where the apartment's listed for $2,500 or $2,200, and then the listing agent says, "Bring your best offer." Then there's a 15% broker fee on top of that, which is like-- it's almost like $10,000 to move into an apartment.
I actually wrote all of my friends whose buildings that I liked or landlords that I knew. Then they put me in contact with their building management, their landlord, and so I found a friend who had their own apartment opening across the hall, and so I'm moving in there at the end of the month. It's good and it's rent-stabilized, so-
Brian Lehrer: Okay. Well, it sounds like--
Michelle: -hopefully it will never happen to me again.
Brian Lehrer: Your story sounds like it may have a happy ending.
Michelle: Yes.
Brian Lehrer: Michelle, thank you for sharing that with us. It's really eye-opening.
Michelle: Thank you.
Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much.
Michelle: Thank you so much.
Brian Lehrer: We do have a number of landlords calling in as well. Let's talk to one of them. Here is Marvin in Manhattan. Marvin, you're on WNYC. Hi there.
Marvin: Good morning. How are you? Brian, I listen to your program quite frequently. Just two comments and then you can take it from there. I think it's particularly disingenuous for you to pick January of 2021 and compare it to this January. January 2021, the market was absolutely in the basement. If you recall, and I'm sure you know it, landlords were offering two, three, and four months' free rent. Advertise that over the cost. They reduced the rents. They reduced the rents. Rents went down, according to The New York Times, between 25% and 30% in the city of New York. Please go back to 2020 or 2019 for that comparable. That would be fairer. It's nowhere near 35%. It's in single digits at best. Number two.
Brian Lehrer: Yes, and that's fair. What you're saying is very fair. Hang on, then I'll let you do number two. We were citing the stat in this New York Times article about rents roaring back, which did compare January to January, '20 to '21, citing the 33% increase. But I did also mention, and you're absolutely justified in bringing it up, the fact that it has rebounded to about exactly the same on average as rents were just before the pandemic. Hopefully, those comparisons are apples to apples and are clear.
Marvin: I think what you just said is correct. That would be apples to apples, and therefore let's toss the 33% number out because it's unfair to pick either the apogee or the perigee, and we shouldn't do that. It's misleading. May I also say to you that oil for heat and hot water, which constitutes a large portion of the operating expenses, are up 130%? Insurance in the city of New York is up 40%. One day you ought to get an insurance company. I don't mean a broker or an agent. Get an insurance company to tell you what's happened.
If you recall, there were terrible hurricanes and floods and fires throughout this country. All of the insurance throughout the entire country has skyrocketed. Please mention that. I've never paid anybody the minimum wage. I always thought that was outrageously low. But I will tell you, please mention the fact that we can't hire people. We have to go significantly above the minimum wage for the simplest tasks in an apartment building. We can't hire people. That's a problem that the landlords didn't create. Let's not discuss who created it [crosstalk].
Brian Lehrer: I hear you on all of those things. I'm sure the listeners hear you. We know about the cost of fuel going up, and if you are paying the fuel for the rental that's obviously a thing. There are some neighborhoods though where it's going up. Where the rents are winding up, according to this New York Times article, much higher than before the pandemic. This says, "On the Upper West Side in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the median asking rent dropped by roughly 20% between January 2020 and January '21," the first year of the pandemic. "But over the past year they have spiked by around 40%," double, "in both neighborhoods, so rents are higher there than before the pandemic."
Neighborhood to neighborhood, things are in some cases much more expensive than they were before the pandemic. I don't know if that's just supply and demand or what it is, but it is what The Times reports is happening.
Marvin: I understand that. If the figures were accurately reported then that's a very good point that you're bringing up. There's a terrible housing shortage in the city of New York. It's not just for low-income people, it's also for the entire middle class. That's a construct of extraordinarily high labor costs. Extraordinarily high regulatory procedures, which make it very-- Whether it's the purchase of cement and how big the trucks can be to deliver and when you can operate. In New York City, to build a small apartment building, it costs about $400 a square foot. If you went to Albany, New York, it's about $200 a square foot, and Albany, it's not the least expensive place.
Brian Lehrer: Then you'd have to live in Albany. Marvin, I appreciate your call. Thank you very much. Some landlord perspectives there on that. Obviously, I know a lot of people would say there are other are underlying causes for the housing shortage that are much bigger than labor costs, but Marvin, we appreciate your perspective and take your points. Let's hear another renter's story. Jessica in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jessica.
Jessica: Hi, Brian. You're a national treasure. I lived in the East Village for 10 years before the pandemic. Then my roommate moved out and I couldn't afford living there anymore, so I found a one-bedroom in Brooklyn last year for a very low price at $2,200 for the area. I have some friends trying to move to my neighborhood and prices are double what I'm paying now. I just heard that landlord-
Brian Lehrer: Double.
Jessica: -and I thought he made some really good points. Yes, double. They're up to $4,400. One of my friends has been able to find a place in the past six months, and that was just through word of mouth. There's not very much available on apps like StreetEasy or even on Listings Project and other types of places where you can find apartments for rent.
Brian Lehrer: So what are you doing?
Jessica: Well, I've got an apartment. I'm lucky I've got a good spot, but my friends who haven't been able to find a place are sticking with living with others, either moved back home or are staying with friends or siblings.
Brian Lehrer: Jessica, thank you very much. Well, there are examples of the pressure with that kind of doubling that she's talking about when she's talking about $4,400 a month and people are going back to live with their siblings or their friends. Renata in Manhattan has the story about her daughter in a studio apartment, I think. Hi, Renata, you're on WNYC.
Renata: Hi, Brian. I'm so excited I'm nervous. I've listened to you for many, many years, so I'm glad to have a chance to talk about this.
Brian Lehrer: I'm glad you're on.
Renata: My daughter also got a COVID deal and she got a studio in Manhattan for $2,100, which wasn't that much of a deal, but still for Manhattan that was pretty good. Now they just sent her the lease. They wouldn't give her a two-year lease. We tried and tried. Of course, they didn't want to give her a two-year lease for obvious reasons now. They're trying now. They just sent the lease to her and they're raising her rent by $1,250, so it's going to go from $2,100 to $3,350.
Brian Lehrer: Wow. Is she going to stay or is she going to try to move out to the wings to find cheaper rent?
Renata: [chuckles] We're looking. We're hoping that New York City will give us another great deal again, [laughs] but she's considering a bunch of different things like either coming back living with us. We also live in the city and we also got a deal. I'm nervous for myself for next year because my lease will probably go up as well next year. I don't know. We're at a loss. It just makes me wonder like isn't this some sort of illegal-- It just seems like gouging. Is this right to do? It just seems so wrong.
Brian Lehrer: Well, the landlord, I'm guessing, would say supply and demand, and "We lowered the rent for the COVID deal because we couldn't get it and now we can get it so it's all right in the marketplace." I think we're going to have a member of the state senate on tomorrow. One of the big things they're debating right now is the so-called Good Cause eviction law, which also would restrict how much rents could go up in non-rent regulated apartments in many circumstances depending on income. Obviously, there's a lot to follow up on.
Thank you for all your calls on this, tenants and landlord Marvin alike. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We have helped to report that story, I think, getting some of those stories out there.
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