Stuck in the Middle
An article in this week’s Crain’s looks at how real estate prices and taxes are making the city increasingly unaffordable for the middle class. The rising cost of housing, in particular, has meant that families making between $80,000 and $150,000 a year are finding it more difficult than ever to make ends meet. Higher real…
An article in this week’s Crain’s looks at how real estate prices and taxes are making the city increasingly unaffordable for the middle class. The rising cost of housing, in particular, has meant that families making between $80,000 and $150,000 a year are finding it more difficult than ever to make ends meet. Higher real estate costs in Brooklyn, for example, have put the borough out of reach for many middle-income earners. A person profiled in the article who makes $60,000 a year looked all over Brooklyn before deciding to rent in Astoria. “Five years ago, [landlords] in Park Slope would have come to you,” he says. Interestingly, the story also notes that the city’s recent prosperity has contributed to a widespread sense of entitlement, thus making people believe that their incomes should stretch farther. “People used to squeeze kids into one bedroom; now everybody thinks every kid should get his own bedroom,” says Nicole Gelinas, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Unaffordable NY: Tough Choices at $150,000 [Crain’s]
Photo by ultraclay!
2:43 – No they can buy in the city just not a 3 bedroom in Brooklyn heights. Or they can rent, marry into money, win the lottery, steal – Whatever. the point is they are not entitled to live anywhere they want, for any price, I dont care what your job is, the fact you cant afford a big house in prime neighborhoods is not a “Problem” that needs to be solved. It is the free market, and ugly as it may seem, thank it is the way it is.
3:00 – You are absurd. ‘Marry into Money’, ”Win the lottery’, ‘Steal’ to get more money. How unrealistc is this. Maybe that’s how you got your money, but I’d like to believe that middle class new yorkers are hard working individuals, and won’t stoop to your levels of acquiring money.
‘I dont care what your job is, the fact you cant afford a big house in prime neighborhoods is not a “Problem” that needs to be solved’
How about affording a modest home in a prime neighborhood.
My friend teaches in a private school in Park Slope (tution over 20K), her salary 60K (for a teacher that is considered excellent), she feels very fortunate to make that much. She lives 45 minutes away, because she can’t afford to leave closer. She commutes, arrives to work tired, irrated, etc. She would love to live closer so she can spend more time at the school, be a part of the community, etc.
Next time you drop your kid off at the school and look at the teacher that gives your kid an education that will hopefully make them rich. You tell that teacher to ‘marry into money, or play lotto, or steal, maybe the teacher can steal your kids lunch money.
‘Or may be you’re just finding an excuse for not committing for fear of something else.’
3:13- With the way the economy is, The Middle class have a fear of job loss. Who gets hurt the most during a recession, the middle class.
I love this city. This is the center of the Universe Of course it is going to cost alot. Go out of the city into let’s say Florida or maybe Utah what kind of jobs do you think they have? Starbucks and Burger king that’s it.
Its always impressive to see the number of strongly held opinions that show up on this blog that have no basis in reality. Who needs facts when they get in the way? I’ll just suggest one article to cover some basic facts.
In a City Known for Its Renters, a Record Number Now Own Their Homes http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/nyregion/27owners.html
While the article does cover the increasing cost of housing in the city, its most striking observations are
In the 1890 census, only about 6 percent of New York City residents reported owning a home. In 1900, even after the consolidated city absorbed residential tracts in Brooklyn and Queens, the overall homeownership rate was just 12 percent.
By 1950, with new housing being built for returning military veterans, the share of owners topped 19 percent. With the exception of the 1970s, when the city flirted with bankruptcy, the proportion has been inching up ever since.
In 1990, 28.7 percent of New Yorkers owned their homes, according to the census figures. In 2000, 30.2 percent did, and five years later, according to the analysis of the Census Bureau’s 2005 American Community Survey, 33.2 percent were homeowners.
and
The increases spanned all major racial and ethnic groups in the city, and the steepest jumps occurred in some of the poorest neighborhoods: the South Bronx, Central Harlem, the Lower East Side, Washington Heights and Brownsville, Brooklyn. In each of those, the proportion of property owners had risen by more than 70 percent since 1990. In the South Bronx, for example, the Census Bureau found nearly 3,600 homeowners in 2005, up from 1,600 in 1990. Only one neighborhood, Bushwick, Brooklyn, registered a decline.
Home ownership in NYC has never been higher in modern times though most people who live in NY don’t own. People of limited means continue to buy. So for all of you who say that no one can afford to buy in NYC, try to figure out what you’re doing wrong. Or may be you’re just finding an excuse for not committing for fear of something else.
AMEN-AMEN & AMEN 12:40. My family was one of those families who struggled to get a mortgage back in the 70’s from racist banks. The owner(the local hardware store operator) had to hold the mortgage and my father made his payments at the hardware store every month. My first job was at the hardware store and the neighborhood was neglected,dark and its housing crumbling. We struggled for years with our house with help from the local hardware store. The owner managed to purchased a few houses from other struggling owners as they fled to the suburbs from crime,drugs, etc. My father was a city employee, so we had to stick it out. Well, that house was a five story brownstone directly across from Fort Greene Park. And it was a wonder watching people at the open house gazing at a old pic of my dad in front of the house 20yrs. ago. The old jewish man who gave me my first job and my dad a home managed to own 8 properties in the area. Both men are fishing down in Florida.
2:43 – No they can buy in the city just not a 3 bedroom in Brooklyn heights. Or they can rent, marry into money, win the lottery, steal – Whatever. the point is they are not entitled to live anywhere they want, for any price, I dont care what your job is, the fact you cant afford a big house in prime neighborhoods is not a “Problem” that needs to be solved. It is the free market, and ugly as it may seem, thank it is the way it is.
‘But 60K doesnt cut it in this city’
I guess most teachers, firefighters, sanitation personnel, police officers in NYC are not cutting it. They can buy a house 2-hours away, because they can afford that, and commute. And when they show up to work tired and can’t do their job properly, who are you going to blame, them, because they can’t afford to live in the city they serve.
‘Alot of us are hardworking, smart, frugal individuals who did sacrifice and save and did what it takes to own something.’
Alot of teachers are smart – you need a masters degree to teach in NYC. Firefighters and sanitation personnel work hard and YOU on THEM to do their job.
2:18– In 1997 my wife and I made 60k COMBINED and bought our first 2BR apartment in Park Slope. No trust funds, no nothing.
Now, if we were in the same position today, we wouldn’t be able to afford Park Slope. So we’d have to do what several of our friends who make under six figures have done lately: buy in Kensington, or Ditmas Park, or Queens. (And yes, I’m talking about couples with kids.)
In 1997 we were lucky on the timing, but not nearly as lucky as the people who bought in 1977 or 1967. But so what? We could hve spent our time bitching and dreaming of revenge on them–instead we saved and sucked it up aand bought what we could afford at the time.
wrong, 2:28.
i make 60k and bought a lovely studio in park slope in 2006.
maybe doesn’t cut it for a family, but 60K for a single person in nyc (which is over HALF the population here) is just fine if you have no debt and spend money wisely.
some people enjoy the simple things in life.