If you’re moving to New York City and want to find the most popular rental neighborhoods, it makes sense to follow the locals who know their way around. Recently, RentHop did just that by examining web traffic to New York listings that originated in the city. Search volume in February and April of this year was analyzed to rank each quarter based on its popularity, and data from the previous year was used to find out how the rankings changed over time.
Two boroughs in Queens and four boroughs in Brooklyn saw increased popularity. Astoria, Queens, rose from ninth place to the top a year ago. In Brooklyn, Bedford-Stuyvesant climbed from 12th to fourth, Williamsburg from 11th to sixth, and Bushwick from 16th to seventh.
These boroughs appear to be attracting tenants from Manhattan: Only four of the 14 boroughs in the top 20 rose in popularity over the year, while ten of its boroughs declined. The Upper East Side held steady in second place for over a year, but the East Village fell from first to third. Other declines in Manhattan included Greenwich Village and West Village, which finished 10th and 11th, each down six places from last year; and the Bowery area finished 13th, falling seven places.
Comparing the current average one-bedroom rent in Manhattan ($4,395) to that in Brooklyn ($3,600) and Queens ($2,721), it becomes clear that prices have something to do with popularity. Looking at the top two neighborhoods in the study, we find that Astoria’s average one-bedroom apartment is now $2,773, up a meager 2 percent year over year. The Upper East Side average is $3,600, up 5 percent over the course of a year.
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