One-bedroom rents soar at major NYC subway stops: Study

2022-06-25 21:10:30 By : Ms. Ella Zhuo

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Here’s an only-in-New York situation that combines the city’s most-complained-about aspects: high rents and the subway system.

In the midst of a downward-trending rental market in early 2021, when a number of New Yorkers scored deals for upgraded units, median rents for one-bedrooms still managed to increase near 35 stops in the city’s subway system, which has a total of 472 stations. So far this year, as rents continued their rapid rise amid much higher demand for city living — most recently forcing prospective tenants into bidding wars, which have only driven prices higher — median one-bedroom rents have risen along a total of 438 stops, or more than 90% of stations around town.

The findings come in a report released this week by listings portal RentHop. That’s a year-over-year increase of 403 subway stations, and the latest sign — especially when considering that living near public transit hubs has traditionally cost more money — that New York is back. To a degree, that is. It also comes at a time when, though trains are noticeably more full, ridership remains down from the days before COVID. The latest MTA numbers show a total estimated ridership of 3,358,137 on May 3, or some 60% of pre-pandemic levels — up from 2,730,743 the day before, or about 48% of pre-COVID levels. Still, the rise in prices alone additionally indicates that New Yorkers rely on the subway for getting around.

RentHop added many of the stations that saw the most dramatic year-over-year changes stand in areas with large rental buildings that previously offered sweet COVID-era concessions — such as months free on longer leases — whose perks have since reeled back.

Among those subway stops, the 72nd Street 1, 2, 3 station on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where the nearby median one-bedroom price climbed 34.4% year-over-year to $3,495 per month. Farther up the 1 line, at 103rd Street, the median price rose 34.3% to $3,350 year-over-year.

Elsewhere around town, the one-bedroom median around Brooklyn’s High Street station jumped 33.9% year-over-year to $3,750. At Manhattan’s West Fourth Street stop — home to lines including the A, B, C and F — they edged up 24.2% to $3,875.

To reach these findings, RentHop surveyed data for unfurnished one-bedroom units between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2021 and 2022. The team then looked at more than 50 non-duplicated listings within a half mile of a subway stop to find the median rent. If there were fewer than 50, they increased the search radius to more than 1 mile — at least 20 city blocks — from stops to find a greater number of unique listings.

The study wasn’t solely limited to Manhattan and Brooklyn. In Queens, the Queensboro Plaza station area — including the 7 and N lines — saw prices rise by 28.6% year-over-year to $3,390. The Bronx, meanwhile, saw median prices around Cypress Avenue jump 19.4% in the same time span to $2,269.

However, certain stops in The Bronx and Queens saw prices lower. In the former, for instance, median one-bedroom rents near the Bedford Park 4 saw prices slip 2.9% year-over-year to $1,700. In the latter, at the Elmhurst Avenue E, M, R stop, they decreased by 2.1% year-over-year to $1,763.