Rising rents in Sunnyside seen as nearing plateau

From left: 47-60 39th Place, a $2,000/month one-bedroom and 46-15 47th Avenue, a $1,950 two-bedroom
From left: 47-60 39th Place, a $2,000/month one-bedroom and 46-15 47th Avenue, a $1,950 two-bedroom

Sunnyside rental prices are scaling new heights, but there are signs of a slow down on the horizon.

Studios that rented for less than $1,000 per month are now fetching prices north of $1,500 per month, brokers told the Sunnyside Post, while one-bedrooms can go for as much as $2,100.

And some perks have come with the uptick in prices, such as landlords who have improved the quality of their buildings in an effort to draw higher-paying tenants.

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“They have been gut-renovating them and installing new appliances,” Linda Santini-Tripodis, a broker with Merit Group & Associates, told the Sunnyside Post. “In the old days, it was just a quick paint job.”

The skyward rents may soon be hitting the ceiling, however, as properties asking $1,900 or $2,000 are starting to sit on the market. Part of the problem is that landlords’ strict adherence to choosing only tenants who make 40 times the rent limits the potential pool of renters, Luis Santa, who owns Sunnyside’s Rapid Realty franchise, told the Sunnyside Post.

There are also questions about whether the neighborhood offers enough of the trappings — such as stores and restaurants — to merit such rising rents, brokers said. [Sunnyside Post]Julie Strickland