The number of available rental apartments in New York City rose to 30,314 in April, an increase of nearly 5 percent since last April. That's good news for prospective renters, but it's still far fewer than the 41,123 that were available in April 2019 — and nowhere near enough to address a shortage that's been building for decades, according to a new report from StreetEasy.
The annual increase is largely due to new development on the waterfront in Brooklyn and Queens, where much of the past decade has seen outdated industrial infrastructure converted into gleaming residential towers.
Among the boroughs, Queens led the year-over-year growth in rental inventory, with a 9.6 percent increase to 4,046 listings (1,377 of those were in Astoria, a 47 percent increase for the neighborhood). Brooklyn followed with an 8.7 percent increase to 9,838 rentals (Greenpoint led its neighborhoods with a 47 percent increase and 507 units). Listings in Manhattan barely increased, rising less than 1 percent to 4,400.
Mott Haven in the Bronx led the way among all neighborhoods, with an 85 percent increase in inventory, although that represents only 387 of the 921 apartments currently available in the borough. The median asking rent there was $3,050. While there are apartments for low- and middle-income renters in many buildings in Mott Haven and elsewhere, they are a minority.
The lack of available housing has helped the city's median rent rise to $3,700, the highest since last September. But the pace of growth has slowed: From April 2022 to April 2023, rents rose 14 percent (the highest of any market nationwide), while the increase in April of this year was just 1.7 percent.
Still, the standard formula for renter eligibility requires an annual household income of 40 times the monthly rent. So, for an apartment with New York's average asking rent of $3,700, a renter would need to earn $148,000 a year. That's nearly double the city's average annual household income of about $77,000.
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