Affordable housing? Rents through the roof since 2000

Study finds median apartment rent up to $1,100 from $630 -- a 75% hike

Scott Stringer
Scott Stringer

Rents in New York City have skyrocketed by 75 percent since 2000, while median incomes have grown static.

The median apartment rent rose to $1,100 per month from $630 over a 12-year period ending in 2012, according to a report from the office of Comptroller Scott Stringer. Compared to everywhere else in the U.S., the 2012 rent level in the city was 31 percent higher. Michael Bloomberg was elected mayor in 2001. Several more apartments rents in the range of $1,200 and $1,600 now than in 2000. Back then, apartments renting for $400 through $1,000 per month were far more common. There were 360,000 fewer units in that range in 2012, Crain’s reported, citing the study.

The median income of residents is down by 4.8 percent. The average annual U.S. inflation rate during the same period was around 2.5 percent, Crain’s reported.

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Mayor Bill de Blasio is slated to unveil a plan for preserving 200,000 affordable-housing units on May 1.

“Rents are going through the roof, while incomes are sinking. And that’s where you get the affordability crunch, and it’s hitting our city at virtually every income level,” Stringer said, calling some of the data “chilling.” [Crain’s]Mark Maurer