Maybe New York residential rents aren’t so bad?

Sorry, New Yorkers — this city isn’t the most expensive area in which to rent a two-bedroom apartment, not even the most expensive in the state. At least that’s what a new study covering rents in the country released by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition says, the Wall Street Journal reported. In fact, Long Island took the prize for the priciest two-bedroom rents in New York. Its average price ticked in at $1,682 per month, putting Long Island in fourth place nationwide. New York City came in at 14th with an average rent of $1,424.

San Francisco took the overall prize for the priciest two-bedroom rents in the nation: its rent is $1,905 per month. Coming in at second was the Stamford-Norwalk region in Connecticut. Third was Honolulu. Neither Connecticut’s nor Honolulu’s average prices were indicated. The national average is $949, the Journal wrote.

“California and Connecticut are always there in the top 10,” Megan Bolton, the report’s co-author, told the Journal. “They are the expensive markets where there isn’t as much rent control.”

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The study took into account all of New York’s five boroughs, and its range of rents could explain why New York’s average came out in 14th place, rather than higher, the Journal wrote. But as The Real Deal previously reported, Manhattan rents are approaching “all-time highs,” with a February 2012 average of $3,376 per month.

According to the Journal, the study only analyzed “fair market rents,” defined as the measuring index for non-luxury rentals in each area’s current market. The study focused on two-bedrooms “because they tend to move the most nationally, generating the freshest data,” the paper said. [WSJ]