Why rents in Bushwick and Crown Heights aren't quite as crazy as they seem

By Virginia K. Smith | September 11, 2014 - 12:59PM

Don't get us wrong, they are still crazy. In the onslaught of market reports released today—all of which more or less tell us the same thing, that New York rentals are still wildly expensive—real estate brokerage MNS had some particularly jarring numbers, indicating that average rents in Bushwick spiked 23 percent in the past year, and in Crown Heights, 25.2 percent.

To an extent, this tells us something most renters have already experienced firsthand: once-cheap Brooklyn neighborhoods have long since been discovered by developers and well-to-do renters alike. But, as MNS CEO Andrew Barrocas points out to DNAinfo, the rents in question are averages, meaning that high-priced new developments—like Bushwick's Colony 1209, where the cheapest available unit is a $2,262/month one-bedroom—can drag up an entire neighborhood's averages like a smug overachiever ruining the curve for everyone else. In other words, the neighborhood is getting more expensive, yes, but not every landlord across the board has raised their asking prices quite so astronomically.

A few other things we learned from today's reports?

An increase in new developments has actually helped spread out demand and contribute to a 1.5 percent month-over-month decrease in Brooklyn rents from July to August.
Manhattan rents are still climbing, but not as swiftly as they once were, possibly an indication that renters have reached a threshold on how much they're willing (and able) to shell out for an apartment.
Another indication renters have hit their upper limit: Manhattan's vacancy rate in August was at 1.27 percent—a relative high—and at its highest in the East and the West Village, two of the city's most notoriously high-priced enclaves.

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