Finding a new apartment to rent can be a slog. And with over half of US renters already paying more than 30% of their income — the standard threshold — it is clear there’s an affordability crisis.
Beyond the cost, in many places it is hard to even find apartments to rent, especially in dense Northeastern cities like New York and Boston, where building new housing is very difficult. In cities like these, just the expense of securing an apartment can cost thousands of dollars, even before the rent comes into play.
In New York City, the rental vacancy rate, which is the share of habitable unoccupied units, has dropped to a record low 1.4%. That’s according to a report released February 8, which has been produced every three years since 1965 by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The survey was conducted between January
and June 2023.
In Boston, the rental vacancy rate was a very tight 2.6% at the end of last year, according to the Census Bureau. Both cities have some of the highest median rental prices in the nation. Renters in the Boston region will pay a median rent of $2,955 a month for an apartment with two bedrooms or smaller, while those in the greater New York area pay $2,817 a month, according to Realtor.com. Both cities saw rent jump by more than 6% in January from a year ago.The latest rental vacancy rate in New York City, as tracked by the city’s housing department, is dramatically lower than the 4.5% pandemic rate, which may have been higher because many tenants fled the city. However, the most recent vacancy rate is also lower than the more typical 3.6% from prior to the pandemic.
And the availability of apartments is even tighter for lower priced apartments, hurting lower-income households already struggling to pay rent. The report found that of the households in New York City earning $25,000 or less, who did not live in public housing or report having a voucher, 86% were severely rent burdened, meaning they paid over half of their income to rent.
Lower vacancy rates favor landlords and often lead to higher rents. Higher vacancy rates favor renters and can lead to price stability — and sometimes cheaper rents. Source: CNN
