When Vinny D’Andraia showed up at The Bergen, the new rental building just on the border of Park Slope and Boerum Hill, he had zero interest in mincing words about the rental market.
“It’s been awful,” he asserted.
D’Andraia had spent four days looking at one-bedrooms for himself and his girlfriend in Williamsburg, Prospect Heights, Park Slope and Fort Greene — all of which seemed too cramped, too dusty, too much in disrepair. So he decided to check out one of the new developments. When he called that morning, some of the less expensive one-bedrooms (under $3,000), were still on the market. But by 1 p.m., they were gone.
One can argue that this is a pretty typical experience for renters.
After a winter where rents looked like they were finally coming down and the vacancy rate looked as if it was edging up, the market reverted to form just in time for the heavy rental season.
According to figures released last week by real estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel, the average rental in Manhattan rose 5.1 percent to $4,008. (Yes, the average apartment is over $4,000 per month.) And the vacancy rate dropped from 1.58 percent to 1.45 percent. In Brooklyn the average price of an apartment is not much lower at $3,209.
“Demand is there,” says Gary Malin of Citi Habitats. “Is it as high as it used to be? No, it’s not that sort of intensity. But we had an extraordinarily busy April.”
And the strength in the market can be seen all over. “Queens is relatively strong,” says Yuval Greenblat of Douglas Elliman. “But the strongest demand has been downtown. People prefer to live downtown if they can — and Brooklyn is no longer [just] an alternative. You have people not considering Manhattan anymore.”
“Most landlords are trying to capitalize on the market,” says Aleksandra Scepanovic, Managing Director of Ideal Properties Group, which is based in Brooklyn. “Landlords are trying to squeeze out every dollar they can, so they’re turning brownstones into luxury [properties] minus the amenities.”
So after D’Andraia asked to look at the next price point at The Bergen and found a unit that was within reach, he grabbed it. Here are some other buildings you can grab — for now.
