REAL ESTATE
Income demands to live in Queens are growing: report
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @AngelaMatua
It’s no secret that rents in the city are
rising.
Studies show that in the past seven
years, rents have risen twice as fast as
wages in New York City and landlords
usually ask a tenant to pay at least 30 percent
Sales in Queens HOMES COOPS CONDOS Listings and photos courtesy MLSLI
NORTHEAST NORTHWEST SOUTHEAST SOUTHWEST
WHITESTONE SUNNYSIDE LAURELTON FOREST HILLS
Under $500,000
166-25 Powells Cove Blvd., Beechhurst
$379,000
Co-op
1 bedroom, 1 bathroom
Sheryl Fine
Century 21 Bay Benjamin
$500,000-900,000
45-37 216th St., Bayside
$780,000
1-family townhouse
3 bedrooms, 1 ½ bathrooms
James Chung
Keller Williams Realty Landmark
Over $900,000
149-30 12th Ave., Whitestone
$998,888
1-family Colonial
3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom
Anthony Carollo
Carollo Real Estate
Under $500,000
85-11 34th Ave., Jackson Heights
$349,000
Condo
1 bedroom, 1 bathroom
Xiao Feng Pan
Winzone Realty
$500,000-900,000
30-13 37th St., Astoria
$899,000
1-family duplex
3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom
Bianca Colasuonno
NY Space Finders Inc.
Over $900,000
47-32 45th St., Sunnyside
$1,798,800
6-family contemporary
12 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms
Nora Avalos
NY Superior Realty
Under $500,000
131-60 226th St., Laurelton
$470,000
1-family Tudor
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
Garth Henry
Kenneth Moxey Realty
$500,000-900,000
117-44 165th St., Jamaica
$749,999
2-family Colonial
5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
Raymond Movahedian
Empire Home Sales
Over $900,000
176-09 Croydon Rd., Jamaica Estates
$1,050,000
1-family Colonial
6 bedrooms, 1 ½ bathrooms
Sarah Elias
Exit Realty First Choice
Under $500,000
86-10 109th St., Richmond Hill
$220,000
Co-op
1 bedroom, 1 bathroom
Halina Szymala
Icon Realty LLC
$500,000-900,000
6 Burns St., Forest Hills
$579,000
Co-op
2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom
Kathy Pittas
Northeast Real Estate Company
Over $900,000
83-07 Abingdon Rd., Kew Gardens
$2,599,000
1-family mansion
7 bedrooms, 6 ½ bathrooms
Alla Yakubov
NY Empire Real Estate
of his or her income.
Using data that outlined the median asking
rent for the third quarter of 2017 and
median income for households in Queens in
2016, real estate website StreetEasy mapped
out how much a Queens resident should
earn to live in a specifi c neighborhood.
Th e median asking rent in Queens is
$2,200, which means a household would
have to earn $88,000 to rent in the borough.
Th e study also found that in nine
of more than two dozen neighborhoods
StreetEasy tracked, the household income
needed to aff ord renting is at least 50 percent
more than the household income
earned in the borough.
If you’re looking to rent in Fresh
Meadows, the study shows a household
must make at least $110,000, or 76.8
percent above the borough’s median
income. Other neighborhoods in northeast
Queens such as Whitestone and Little
Neck also topped the list.
In neighborhoods like Long Island City,
where rentals are constantly being constructed,
the median asking rent is $2,570,
requiring a household to make at least
$120,000, or 65.3 percent more than the borough’s
median household income.
Th e more aff ordable neighborhoods
include North Corona, where the median
asking rent is $1,650 and the median income
is $66,000; Briarwood, where the median
asking rent is $1,725 and the median household
income is $69,000; and Woodhaven,
where the median asking rent is $1,750 and
the median household income is $70,000.
StreetEasy acknowledges that some
renters do not pay market-rate rents
because they live in rent-controlled or
rent-subsidized apartments, affordable
housing or public housing or may
have leases set at lower rates. Many New
Yorkers also take on several roommates
to help alleviate the cost burden.
“So while comparing market-rate rents
with borough-wide incomes is not a perfect
match, it gives insight into the struggle for
aff ordability in the NYC rental market by
showing what a household must earn to rent
a market-rate apartment in a given neighborhood,”
said Mariela Quintana, researcher
at StreetEasy.
Photo via Shutterstock