If there's one thing New Yorkers can unite on, it's the unforgiving cost of living.
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"The rent is too damn high, not sustainable in this city," renter Paul Scalet said.
It's only getting higher. A new report by Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel found rents in Manhattan continue to skyrocket, with July seeing an average rental rate of nearly $5,600.
Renters in Hell's Kitchen could relate to the hike, in fact the average price there is nearly $4,400 per month.
"I used to live on 49th Street and I had to move out because they raised my rent by $700," one resident said.
The aftermath of the pandemic coupled with inflation and rising interest rates continues to lash the rental and real estate market.
"What the pandemic did to the real estate market, whether purchase or rentals, and not just New York City but nationwide, is massively distorted results rules of thumb," said Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel Inc.
One example: census data shows the population fell slightly by 5.3% from April 2020 to July 2022, when people were working from home during the pandemic and moved to other states with lower costs of living. The supply they left behind, which is technically still there, would normally translate into lower prices.
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"It's not a matter of supply, like in the purchase market, inventory is actually rising," Miller said. "It's the fact people are reaching their affordability threshold. They can't go much further.
That leaves inflation. As everything else becomes more expensive, it's harder for renters to stay afloat.
So, while typically, what goes up must come down, these hikes are sticking around.
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