By Pamela Engel 6/21/11 3:41pm

Rent Check

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Manhattan’s Leasé-Faire Apartment Market

The rental market is up and the rental market is down, according to the newly released Manhattan Rental Market Report.

Although the report, released monthly, shows that rents were up by 1.82 percent overall from May to June, a closer look reveals that rents are rising in some areas and falling in others. Also, the survey doesn’t include every apartment on the market—understandable, given how freaky Manhattan housing arrangements can get—but instead gives just a rough idea of pricing trends.

For example, rents are up for non-doorman studios on the Upper West Side but down for non-doorman one-bedrooms. Many neighborhoods are listed under both the “where prices decreased” and “where prices increased” categories with prices varying depending on the type of apartment, making it a little difficult to ID a trend for one neighborhood across-the-board. Read More

By Robert Knakal 3/10/11 4:58pm

concrete thoughts

A Call for Means Testing in Rent Regulation

Food and shelter are two of life’s basic necessities. For those who need assistance feeding themselves, the Food Stamp Program is available. This program issues monthly benefits that can be used to purchase food at authorized retail food stores. Food stamp benefits help low-income working people, seniors, the disabled and others feed their Read More

By Joseph Alexiou 4/08/10 2:39pm

Hey, College Kiddies! Welcome to the Island of the $2,417 Studio

Aside from hay fever and spring fever, the flush of New York City’s apartment fever hit Thursday morning thanks to the latest Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel first-quarter rental market report.

For all the soon-to-be graduated college kids, according to the report, the average rent for a Manhattan studio—four walls, a closet kitchen and a toilet—has increased Read More

By Robert Knakal 4/01/10 1:58pm

Multifamily, Yesterday and Today

Operating multifamily properties in New York City is a challenging task, given the complexities involved in the city’s rent-regulation system. If you are a frequent reader of Concrete Thoughts, you know the many deficiencies that exist within the system. Most people believe that rent regulation is an affordable-housing program, but it is really Read More

By Eliot Brown 12/31/09 4:29pm

Stuy Town Opens to the Masses Again

Closed to new tenants since October in the wake of a mega court decision on rents, Stuyvesant Town is now opening its flood gates.

Per a statement from a Tishman Speyer spokeswoman, the 11,200-apartment mini-city on the East Side will now rent 100 apartments to outsiders looking to get in. Thanks to the court Read More

By Robert Knakal 12/16/09 7:05pm

How to Fix Rent Regulation

Welfare is defined as “financial aid or other assistance to an individual or a family from a city, state or national government.” It is further defined as “receiving financial aid from the government or from a private organization because of hardship and need.”

In New York, rent stabilization is a form of welfare, rent welfare. Read More

By Bonnie Kavoussi 8/24/09 2:37pm

For Apartment Seekers, the Summer of Change Changes

Well, so much for all that.

Matt Puleo, an accountant looking for an apartment in the East Village or Gramercy, said that only 5 percent of the places he’s looked at recently have offered concessions. “In many instances, I have not noticed an appreciable decrease in rents,” Mr. Puleo said. “I think a lot Read More

By Molly Fischer 8/17/09 6:15pm

Your Open House: Who’s Shelving the Wine Next To the Windex?

Studios are a place to store a person, self-storage in the most literal sense. That might not always be the most appealing real estate option, but today’s falling prices have many renters contemplating inexpensive small spaces. This week, Your Open House explores Manhattan studios: Who’s buying small and why?

Today an East Village co-op, Read More