"In affluent neighborhoods, it’s worse: at the height of the pandemic, in Williamsburg in Brooklyn and on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, for example, the median asking rent fell about 20 percent. Since January 2021 it has charged upward by about 40 percent in both places, according to StreetEasy. In SoHo the median rent jumped 58 percent in the fourth quarter — from $3,800 to $6,002... Behind the extreme hikes in rent is a rental market crunch driven in part by Covid expats flooding back, attracted once again to a revitalized city or recalled by office jobs."
I found the first sentence of this article really alienating: "The hallmarks of feeling like you’ve made it in New York City are often as follows: navigating the subway sans map, a maitre d’ who knows you by name and living alone, at last, in your own apartment."
I lived in NYC from 1973 to 1984 (and in the Fall 2007/Spring 2008 academic year) and I can say with certainty that I never gave a damn about a maitre d’ knowing me — by name or otherwise. And I've also never thought in terms of whether I'd "made it." Are young people not young anymore? I'm old now, and I can't identify with the oldness of the purported youngness expressed in that sentence. What an incredible drag!
ADDED: I was inspired to research "make it" in the OED. The original meaning of this phrase is nautical. To "make it" is to cover the intended distance. Then it got figurative:
I'd have to check the text, but I think when "They went to a parking lot in broad daylight..and there, he claims, he made it with her in nothing flat," she was not the maitre d’.
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55 comments:
"Behind the extreme hikes in rent is a rental market crunch driven in part by Covid expats flooding back, attracted once again to a revitalized city or recalled by office jobs."
I never could understand why people who were happy living in NYC would leave it simply because of COVID.
🎶 What a drag it is getting old. Things are different today, I hear every mother say...🎶
a maitre d’ who knows you by name
if you switch that to: a bartender who knows you by name.. Then it is Universally True
You know you've REALLY made it, when Cheri the Bartender doesn't ask; "The Usual, gilbar?"
She just starts pouring when you walk through the door, and it's sitting in front of you when you reach the bar
THEN you have arrived
If the rent fell by 20% but is now up 40% doesn't that mean rent is really up 20%?
Math is hard. Even basic arithmetic is hard for some people.
Those are the ones who choose journalism school.
John LGBTQBNY Henry
Not sorry.
A headline today
"crime is up 44% in NYC"
John LGBTQBNY Henry
How old is the person who wrote the article?
It might just be opinion/projection?
People are moving out of state, in droves, and housing is going up?
Seems to me there has to be millions of square feet of space open, just from the work at home phenomenon. Maybe its just a lag factor.
"Fact Check" time for MISLEADING data and wishful thinking. NYC rents are indeed up over the last year, but not up very much since the start of the pandemic in early 2020.
See the ApartmentList.com report below, and scroll down to the national map. The southern and mountain states are sincerely up 35% to 55%...NYC is up a mere 7.3% in a high inflation economy. WEAK WEAK WEAK analysis. I expect nothing else from a corrupt media outlet rife with conflicts of interest.
https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/national-rent-data
Is it mainly pleasant because it's pleasant in itself, or because you know there are a lot of people who would like to share the alleged pleasure, and are unable to do so? Is it more about contemplating all the people who haven't made it, than actually making it? If it's a rat race, you're still a rat.
Lucretius says it may be the greatest pleasure to contemplate suffering, and realize you're not among those suffering. Watching a ship sink, and realizing you're not on board. A wave or relief. Other European languages borrow a German word, schadenfreude. This is not sadism--you don't in any way have to make anyone suffer to enjoy this. There is is plenty of suffering. This might be the Manhattanhite saying: there are problems where I live, but at least I don't live in fucking Kansas (or whatever).
You can't have made it unless you are working at a television newsroom in Minneapolis.
The people who fled COVID tended to be affluent—they fled to their vacation houses. The people who really care about rents never left and generally aren’t facing this sticker shock. Even without knowing that, you can tell by the neighbourhoods in the article—Williamsburg, SoHo, Upper West Side—the people who live there have little reason to care how much the rent is.
And I've also never thought in terms of whether I'd "made it."”
Easy for you to say—you who make it an-y-where…
John henry said...
If the rent fell by 20% but is now up 40% doesn't that mean rent is really up 20%?
Actually, NO!
If we assume that 'fell by 20% means dropped to 80%.. And up 40% means from that (80%) then..
1st rent is 1.00
Drops to 0.80 (1.00 * 0.80 = 0.80)
THEN increases 40% from There (0.80 * 1.40 = 1.12)
So, Down Twenty Percent, and then Up 40 Percent really means TWELVE PERCENT
Fun fact! If prices go down 20%, and then back up 20% they are Still down 4% !!!
0.8 * 1.2 = 0.96
Math IS hard! :)
"In affluent neighborhoods, it’s worse: at the height of the pandemic, in Williamsburg in Brooklyn and on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, for example, the median asking rent fell about 20 percent. Since January 2021 it has charged upward by about 40 percent in both places, according to StreetEasy.
Let's actually do the math:
$1000 down 20% = 800
$800 up 40% = $1120
So, after two years, an apartment that was $1000 is now $1120, up 12% over 2 years, which is almost exactly the current rate of inflation.
"I never could understand why people who were happy living in NYC would leave it simply because of COVID."
Because they were incapable of basic reasoning ability?
Enigma makes a good point- you need to analyze the baseline effects embedded here.
You've made it in New York when you can pretend you're living in a Woody Allen movie, one of the early, funny ones.
Rent control is making it so people in NYC don't move.
And it's probably a nightmare (not happening) for new construction for lower priced units without subsidies to expand the supply.
And I would not be surprised, if some people have decided if they have a choice, to just sell a property, instead of renting it out. Further decreasing the amount of units available for rent on the market.
Lots of stories in the NY area of people using Covid as a way to avoid paying rents, which is hurting landlords.
Another contributing factor to rent increases, in my opinion, is landlords recouping losses suffered during the rent moratoriums.
Make hay while the sun shines.
The boss makes a dollar,
I make a dime,
That's why I poop
On company time.
"Making it" or "having it made" in the figurative sense covers a wide range.
The hallmarks of feeling like you’ve made it in New York City are often as follows: navigating the subway sans map...
"I lived in NYC from 1973 to 1984... [a]nd I've also never thought in terms of whether I'd 'made it.'"
Evidently, Althouse didn't "come out to play" in 1979.
Make it! Make it! Move! ...Nobody can read these maps anyway... What's the difference? We're home free!
Imagine if landlords could evict deadbeat renters 7 days after they missed the rent, and then sue to recover any repair charges (or require large deposits). They could charge lower rents.
But now there is the risk of an "eviction moratorium" dictatorially decreed whenever some politician thinks there is an "emergency". In addition, the hangover of constipated court dockets for evictions in the aftermath of eviction moratoria provides increased incentives for renters not to pay. And in deep blue places like NYC, the specter of rent control is ubiquitous.
Increasing rents are not "unintended consequences" of these factors, but predictable and intentional. Vote D and get what you want, good and hard.
After my first year in NY long ago, I was walking in the Village (where I lived) with an out of town friend when a deliveryman from the local Chinese takeout rode by on his bike, saw me, smiled and waved. My friend was very impressed - better than a maitre'd.
"They went to a parking lot in broad daylight..and there, he claims, he made it with her in nothing flat,"
If I can make it there
I'll make it anywhere...
NYC is the most exclusive singles bar, with an astronomical cover charge. I had a cousin who lived there in the late 80's, moved out of mom's 192nd St to a one room with a tiny bathroom, and a window facing the street. It was close to Greenwich Village, where she could walk in into a legit business and surreptitiously buy weed. I'd never seen her so happy.
In affluent neighborhoods, it’s worse: at the height of the pandemic, in Williamsburg in Brooklyn and on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, for example, the median asking rent fell about 20 percent. Since January 2021 it has charged upward by about 40 percent in both places, according to StreetEasy.
That seems dramatic, but it could just be a return to trend. If you were at 100 in 2019, then dropped 20% by 2021 (80), and are now up 40% (1.12) in 2022, that's a 12% increase across three years. Using an inflation calculator online, I'm seeing that $1.00 in 2019 would be about $1.11 in 2022, today, so that's basically flat (thanks in large part to huge inflation in 2021-2022), assuming the %'s weren't inflation adjusted. It's just that New York rents cratered after their government and public health infrastructure screwed up so badly on coronavirus. With their execrable governor and mayor finally out of office, it's a new day in New York City.
Oh, I see Hari already did the math haha
But Mary Richards made it, after all...
'I never could understand why people who were happy living in NYC would leave it simply because of COVID.'
Because the politicians turned it into an even bigger socialist shit show/police state than it normally is, and that took some pretty hard work.
“I never could understand why people who were happy living in NYC would leave it simply because of COVID.”
When cognitive dissonance becomes so great that you have to do something to make reality conform a little with your hysteria. Most people have very limited power, so self-harming is often the only way to make this happen.
To "make it" is to cover the intended distance
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does that also mean : it is the journey and not the destination?
The 40% hike is ambiguous. Is it 40% from last year or 40% from the year before the 20% drop? If 40% from last year, the rent is 8% cheaper overall, but the article is less dramatic. The writer may be more interested in writing a dramatic article about a 40% hike than in the pursuit of mundane facts. He likes to be recognized by maitre d's. This is not a person with the instincts of the common man.....Over the last few hundred years have rents in Manhattan ever gone down for more than a sporadic year or two? Well, Detroit wasn't destroyed in a day.
BEING THE GREATEST CITY IN WORLD IT HAS IT'S PRICE. I'VE BEEN TO EVERY CORNER OF THIS BACKWARDS NATION AND NYC IS MY CHOICE....AND I'M A CONSERVATIVE TRUMP DEVOTEE. THERE'S A LOT MORE OF US THAN YOU NIGHT IMAGINE.
AS ONE OF MANY TRUMP SUPPORTERS I CAN SAY THIS IS WHERE I CHOOSE TO LIVE.
"Because the politicians turned it into an even bigger socialist shit show/police state than it normally is, and that took some pretty hard work."
How was/is NYC a "socialist shit show?" It is about as much a police state as any other place in the US, (which is not to say it isn't.)
"But Mary Richards made it, after all...."
In Minneapolis. That doesn't count.
Ann wrote:
'I found the first sentence of this article really alienating: "The hallmarks of feeling like you’ve made it in New York City are often as follows: navigating the subway sans map, a maitre d’ who knows you by name and living alone, at last, in your own apartment."'
I found it alienating because it was missing the Oxford comma.
And I've also never thought in terms of whether I'd "made it."
Which is precisely why you didn't have the disposable cash to be known personally by NYC maitre d's. They aren't talking about people like you. They're talking about people whose self-worth is largely or entirely determined by the opinions of others.
If you can make it there
You’ll make it anywhere
You’re black n’ blue
New York, New York
Damn it, Lem!
Of all the assessments of "making it," none (that I see) mention the obvious reference. Podhoretz reigns among the young leftists in the City.
https://www.amazon.com/Making-Norman-Podhoretz/dp/0060907649
“I never could understand why people who were happy living in NYC would leave it simply because of COVID.”
Because covid made NYC into something that barely resembled its former self. No theater, no restaurants, no tourists (who contribute largely to the city’s buzzy vibe)—none of the things that people who live here, live here for. People don’t move to New York (or stay in New York) to stay at home in their small, overpriced apartments. By your logic, if your home was bombed but marginally habitable, you’d stay because you were formerly happy there.
"In affluent neighborhoods, it’s worse: at the height of the pandemic, in Williamsburg in Brooklyn and on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, for example, the median asking rent fell about 20 percent. Since January 2021 it has charged upward by about 40 percent in both places, according to StreetEasy."
Others have already done the math to show that this is barely keeping up with inflation. My question is: Why is it "worse"? High rents mean people want to pay a lot to live there. If you want low rents you can go live in the South Bronx and risk getting hit by stray gunfire.
Balfegor Wrote:
>that's a 12% increase across three years.
In Riverside, CA I am seeing Rent increases of 30% of the same time period for new listings.
Do to Rent Control, Rent increases for existing tenants is under 10%.
NYC I don't know how much they are allowed to increase the rent.
And there was no dip in Riverside.
Lots of places are seeing huge rent increases for asking.
While a few places are seeing Rents Go Down.
In Riverside the only thing getting built is luxury apartments. With all the red tape, it just does not pencil out to build non luxury apartments. And there is very little inventory, and high demand.
When cognitive dissonance becomes so great that you have to do something to make reality conform a little with your hysteria. Most people have very limited power, so self-harming is often the only way to make this happen.
===========
!!!!!!!!!!! like pinching oneself as painful as possible??????!!!!!!!!!
How was/is NYC a "socialist shit show?"
Here's a place to start...
https://nypost.com/2019/02/28/de-blasio-and-co-mayor-wife-have-wasted-1-8b-of-taxpayer-money/
https://freespeechlive.com/news/de-blasio-says-our-mission-is-to-redistribute-wealth-amid-pandemic/
The key quotes from this second article are, “And from the beginning, what I tried to focus on was a very simple concept, equity and excellence — that we needed to profoundly change the distribution of resources,” he continued. “I like to say very bluntly, our mission is to redistribute wealth.* A lot of people bristle at that phrase — that is in fact the phrase we need to use.”
*Emphasis mine.
I am focused on the 'apartment alone' goal of NYC. Much of the bitching about rent or the price of real estate in Seattle appears to come from people who MUST do so on their own. They MUST live alone, the MUST buy a house and live alone.
My experience working with Laotian refugees has made me terribly biased. You see - they come to the US with no skills, no English. In 3-5 years, most own homes. How? By working together as a group. NOBODY lives alone. People cram into apartments, saving for a down payment. Then whoever can buy a house, does so - and many people come with them and pay rent, which helps with the new mortgage. Rinse repeat.
In my time living/working in Seattle, I've known exactly ONE person who, along with their spouse, teamed up with another couple to buy a home. A $600k home between four people - $150k each. Very doable. Why don't more people work as a team or a group? Why has the 'go it alone' become so prevalent? This is something I'd love to see some research on: why are we in the US so fucking antisocial we'd rather piss and moan about shouldering rent/mortgage solo rather than work as a group. All my searching comes up with research on college roommates.
We are constantly being told to borrow systems from other cultures to improve our lives here: socialized medicine, social housing - why not import a different attitude about who we live with? In many parts of the world, few people live alone. Why not borrow that system?
“'I never could understand why people who were happy living in NYC would leave it simply because of COVID.'
"Because covid made NYC into something that barely resembled its former self. No theater, no restaurants, no tourists (who contribute largely to the city’s buzzy vibe)—none of the things that people who live here, live here for. People don’t move to New York (or stay in New York) to stay at home in their small, overpriced apartments. By your logic, if your home was bombed but marginally habitable, you’d stay because you were formerly happy there."
Ummm...I lived through the COVID period in NYC, and I never thought the changes wrought on the city by the pandemic would be permanent, or even particularly long-lasting, (by which I mean more than two or three year, tops). How short-sighted or panicked (and not to say stupid) could New Yorkers be to think the city they loved was gone and would never come back? I even enjoyed it in a way, to ride on completely or nearly empty trains on the subway and to walk through largely empty, silent streets, with little traffic. I was certainly happy throughout the whole period.
Why not borrow that system?
Because life in NYC makes people so obnoxious, they don't even want to live with each other?
I provided evidence and showed my work.
Can we agree that NYC was a socialist shitshow under De Blasio?
All say aye?
Without objection.
Entered into the record.
”Can we agree that NYC was a socialist shitshow under De Blasio?”
Again…how?
He didn’t redistribute wealth. Talk is not walk.
"Because life in NYC makes people so obnoxious, they don't even want to live with each other?"
Nope, not true at all.
Knowing the subway stations without a map is easy, especially in Manhattan. Knowing where to stand on the platform and what car to ride in so you get off the train at your destination’s exit is “making it.”.
“How short-sighted or panicked (and not to say stupid) could New Yorkers be to think the city they loved was gone and would never come back?”
It hasn’t come back yet. People are still wearing masks, sometimes because they’re required, other times because people want to demonstrate their solidarity (as my CUNY union e-mail suggested we should). I still have to provide proof of vaccination to get into a theater (I won’t go), a concert (ditto) my hairdresser (my hair looks like shit). Further, there is no out date for these policies or any assurance that when they do end, they won’t be reimplemented to address the next trumped up crisis. I don’t like living in place where I’m told what I’m allowed to do and how I’m allowed to do it. We’re having a long, hard think about whether to stay. I’m a lifelong New Yorker. This makes me immeasurably sad.
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