As Manhattan rents soar, parents become landlords

Forget instant ramen and multiple roommates in far-flung parts of the city, a few lucky Millennials have the ultimate New York City gift — a pad bought by mommy and daddy. As rents in Manhattan skyrocket, some parents are buying apartments and then “renting” them to their very deserving children.

The median rental price for a studio in Manhattan is almost $2,600 a month and a one-bedroom $3,375, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel.

Julie Newdow, a broker at Corcoran Group Real Estate, told the New York Times that while it’s always been tough for recent college grads with entry-level jobs in the city, it’s even more so now.

Newdow, and her husband, Mark Landisman, also a broker at Corcoran, purchased a one-bedroom With A Terrace in a postwar co-op in Kips Bay last year. Landisman’s son Brian Landisman, 28, a graduate student at Pratt, pays the maintenance fee of $1,021 a month for the apartment.

He was paying $2,150 a month for a one-bedroom rental in an Upper East Side walk-up, which Newdow called “crummy.”

“We could be getting double or triple what our son is paying,” Newdow said. “But we’re not out of pocket.”

Manhattan’s median rental prices have been steadily rising for the past two years, and jumped another 4.5 percent last October to $3,391.

Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, told the Times, that “over the last three or four years, we’ve been seeing more pied-à-terre purchases that involve parents buying a small unit as a home for a child with a first job in the city, and also as an investment.” [NYT] — Dusica Sue Malesevic