DRAMATIC NEW RENT 
 HIKES ‘UNSUSTAINABLE’ 
 After rare drop in price during pandemic, housing  
 costs climb to record highs, frustrating locals 
 INSIDE 
 Your entertainment 
 guide Page 49 
 Police Blotter ..........................8 
 Power Women ....................... 19 
 Opinion ...................................46 
 HOW TO REACH US 
 COURIER L 4     IFE, MARCH 11-17, 2022 
 BY BEN BRACHFELD 
 Housing prices are once  
 again  climbing  to  record  
 highs in New York City after  
 seeing  substantial  decreases  
 during the pandemic, and  
 many tenants renewing leases  
 are being left on the hook for  
 enormous  increases  in  rent  
 that they did not foresee when  
 renting their apartment at the  
 height of COVID-19’s rampage  
 through the city. 
 In Brooklyn, average rent  
 prices  peaked  in  April  2020,  
 at the height of the pandemic  
 in the city, at $3,533, according  
 to  real  estate  fi rm  Douglas  
 Elliman, which produces  
 monthly reports on rental  
 prices  in  Manhattan,  Brooklyn, 
  and northwest Queens.  
 Afterwards, rents tumbled  
 substantially citywide as hundreds  
 of thousands of people  
 fl ed the fi ve boroughs for less  
 crowded locales to ride out  
 the pandemic, leaving landlords  
 with  an unexpected  glut  
 of vacant properties. Rents in  
 Brooklyn bottomed out in January  
 2021, when the average  
 rent was $3,008 according to  
 Douglas Elliman. That month,  
 vacant  housing  inventory  had  
 increased by 150 percent over a  
 year prior. 
 It was only short-lived, however, 
  as rents have been on the  
 increase  ever  since  as  mass  
 vaccination and testing made  
 the pandemic a less deadly,  
 all-encompassing threat in the  
 eyes of many, leading many  
 who left to return. In Brooklyn, 
  average rents in January  
 of  this  year  were  $3,162,  
 up 5 percent from their nadir  
 a year ago. The increase has  
 been most  pronounced  in  studio  
 Tenants and activists walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan Housing Court ahead of the expiration  
 of the eviction moratorium.  File photos by Adrian Childress 
 apartments, according to  
 January report from Douglas  
 Elliman; average studio rent in  
 January was $2,567, up over 25  
 percent from $2,050 in January  
 2021. Vacant housing inventory  
 is  down  86  percent  from  last  
 year. 
 The increase has been even  
 more massive in Manhattan,  
 where rents are almost back  
 to where they were before the  
 pandemic. Average rent in January  
 in Manhattan stood at  
 $4,570, a massive 16.9 percent  
 increase  from  the  $3,909  average  
 in January 2021. 
 Last summer, New York  
 overtook San Francisco as the  
 most expensive city in the US,  
 according to apartment search  
 website Zumper. The Big Apple  
 has  maintained  its  lead  over  
 the Bay Area tech hub, with  
 one-bedrooms renting for an  
 average of $3,100 in New York  
 versus  $2,930  in  San  Francisco  
 this month, according to  
 Zumper. 
 Sales, meanwhile, never  
 quite took the tumble that  
 rents did in Brooklyn: Douglas  
 Elliman’s fourth quarter 2021  
 report for Kings County pegs  
 the average home sale price at  
 $1,178,237 — an 11.7 percent increase  
 over the fourth quarter  
 of 2020, for co-ops, condos, and  
 1-3 family homes. Sales prices  
 fell  dramatically  during  the  
 second and third quarters of  
 2020, but quickly rebounded to  
 continue an upward trajectory. 
 Everything is too damn  
 high 
 While New York is no  
 stranger to exorbitant housing  
 costs, it has not been alone in  
 seeing a dramatic rise in dwelling  
 prices. Real estate analytics  
 company CoreLogic reports  
 that nationwide, home prices  
 increased by an average of 19  
 percent this January over last.  
 The increase in housing prices  
 echoes increases in items such  
 as groceries and gasoline, owing  
 to rates of infl ation not seen  
 in  America  in  decades  and  
 Mail:  
 Courier Life,  
 1 Metrotech Center North  
 3rd Floor, Brooklyn,  
 N.Y. 11201 
 General Phone:  
 (718) 260-2500 
 News Fax:  
 (718) 260-2592 
 News E-Mail:  
 editorial@schnepsmedia.com 
 Display Ad Phone:  
 (718) 260-8302 
 Display Ad E-Mail:  
 rdonofrio@schnepsmedia.com 
 Display Ad Fax:  
 (718) 260-2579 
 Classified Phone:  
 (718) 260-2555 
 Classified Fax:  
 (718) 260-2549 
 Classified E-Mail:  
 classified@schnepsmedia.com 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 This newspaper is not responsible for typographical errors in ads beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2022 by Brooklyn Courier Life  
 LLC. The content of this newspaper is protected by Federal copyright law. This newspaper, its advertisements, articles and photographs may not be reproduced, either in whole  
 or part, without permission in writing from the publisher except brief portions for purposes of review or commentary consistent with the law. Postmaster, send address changes to  
 Brooklyn Courier Life LLC, One MetroTech North, 3rd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201.  
 
				
link
		link
		link
		link
		link
		link