Mar
12
Blog Post #7 Andrew Chen
March 12, 2015 | Leave a Comment
While new developments are springing up in all boroughs, thus showing recovery from the recession and Superstorm Sandy, neighborhood rezonings and a new focus on strengthening properties from future storms has been put into plan. I had always lived in a house on Staten Island, with my parents paying mortgage. Recently, I had moved out of my old house, and into a newer one, which just means more mortgage, and tenants living in my previous house. This correlates to the statistic that only 31.7% of New Yorkers own homes. Because I grew up on Staten Island, I didn’t see renting as that necessary, as there are much more suburban areas than in the other boroughs.
Because residential property has increased in every borough, ranging from homes to apartments, I think it’s safe to assume it’s slightly harder to transition and settle down. While Staten Island tops the highest homeownership rate, with Queens coming in second, Sales volume has increased steadily, bouncing back from a sharp decrease from 2006-2008. I find it interesting that while the total volume of sales increased for the second year in a row in 2013, New York’s total homeownership rate has fallen from 33.6% to 31.7%. This could be due to more people coming to live in New York City, thus increasing the number of people buying homes, but also far greater increasing the number of people who aren’t buying homes.
In 2012, the median price for rent in New York City was $1216, $300 greater than the national median. It’s as expected for me to read that the highest rent is for a place in Manhattan, with it being the hub and middle of everything. It also didn’t surprise me to read that Manhattan residencies’ rents were increasing at the highest rate between the five boroughs, and that Staten Island, being separated by a body of water from the rest of the other boroughs, experienced decreased rent. However, it is quite shocking for me to read that for the past eight years, rent increases has far surpassed household incomes. This is a problem as it increases the standard of living, and makes it harder for people to spend money elsewhere, such as necessities and luxuries.
In 2012, renters pay 32% of their income for rent. A little more than half of these renters, 54%, were burdened by these rent payments, as they were paying for rent equal to between 30% and 50% of their total income. Figure 3.4 is great to look at, at it shows the relationship increased rent prices has with total income. In 2005, they both start at the same point, and income rises above rent prices until 2008, where the two lines intersect, and sharply decrease and increase respectively. While median gross rent was making a steady crawl upwards, median household income sharply declined, up until 2011, where the graph demonstrates that median household income is on the rise again.
With the increase of population in New York City, and the lack of available space for housing, either old residencies will be taken down to be replaced with newer, and bigger establishments, or people will end up crowding. However, the article states that the rate for severe overcrowding has not changed for New York City in recent years, which is surprising to hear. Because of the desirability of living in New York City, strain is placed on who gets to rent/own which apartment, leading back to the issue of housing and income inequality. How can the current mayoral office tackle this issue, along with the problems of zoning?
