Real Estate
Unaffordable
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
SMONTEVERDI@QNS.COM
While over one in four Queens locals
would call their neighborhood unafford-able,
residents of the “World’s Borough”
remain loyal to their hometown and
would recommend it to a friend, a recent
report found.
According to a “Housing and Moving
Trends Report” released by StreetEasy,
29 percent of Queens residents believe
their neighborhood is unaffordable, while
18 percent believe their house or apart-ment
to be unaffordable — the highest
percentage in the five boroughs.
A total 55 percent of Queens resi-dents
surveyed felt that New York City
as a whole was unaffordable, which
was also the highest out of the five
boroughs.
StreetEasy attributed residents’
“negative perceptions” toward the
city’s affordability to the high cost of
homes on the marketplace. Median
asking rents on real estate websites
like StreetEasy are generally higher
than median rents reported by the U.S.
Census, which takes publicly subsidized
homes and units subject to rent control
into account.
In Queens, median market rent reg-isters
at $2,200 while median contract
rent is $1,291. The differences are
“likely to help fuel New Yorkers’ percep-tions
of an unaffordable city,” the report
says. Still, the city has seen a “rapid rise”
in home prices and rents over the last
two decades, researchers noted.
In spite of feelings of unaffordability,
StreetEasy found that Queens residents
are more willing to recommend that a
friend move to their own neighborhood
than to any other New York City neigh-borhood:
56 percent would recommend
living in their own neighborhood, while
48 percent of locals would recommend
living in New York City in general.
16 MARCH 2018 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
On a citywide scale, nearly one in
three New Yorkers exceeded their ini-tial
budget when purchasing or renting
their current residence and homebuyers
were more likely to overspend than
renters. Still, renters are more likely to
view cost of living in the city negatively,
with 52 percent calling New York City
unaffordable compared to 39 percent
of homeowners.
While the report also found that New
Yorkers move often — 59 percent of all
New Yorkers under age 45 who rent or
own a home say they plan to move in
the next 12 months — they often stay
loyal to their borough. Of those planning
to move within the next 12 months, 71
percent said they would stay in their
borough.
But Queens residents stay put more
than the average New Yorker: 70 per-cent
of Queens residents surveyed said
they had no plans to move. This is the
second-highest percentage, behind
Staten Island. Moves are largely mo-tivated
by better deals or rent stability.
Affordability is relative, says Stree-tEasy,
but New York City’s continued
success depends on ensuring home-owners
they will continue to be able to
afford the area’s housing costs.
While the city’s economic power
makes it a draw — researchers refer-ence
e-commerce giant Amazon’s inter-est
in the city for its new headquarters as
one strong indicator — further growth is
“dependent on demonstrating to current
and future New Yorkers just how much
there is to love in the city and assuring
them that they will be able to continue
to reap the benefits of living in such a
dynamic place for years to come.”
For the survey, StreetEasy gathered
information through an independent
research firm from 1,000 “key house-hold
decision-makers” living in all five
boroughs of New York City. View the
full report here.
Photo via Flickr/noahbulgaria
View of Queens skyline in Long Island City
