And you think that YOUR rent is too damn high

[borntochill]

Rising Rents Create a Demand for Manhattan Walk-Up Buildings

The popularity and rising prices of walk-ups are owed in no small part to Manhattan’s incredibly tight rental market. Rents have been surging for the last several years as New Yorkers remain skittish about buying homes and mortgages remain difficult to obtain. In June, for example, the average rent was $3,443 a month, according to Citi Habitats, the highest figure since the firm began tracking data in 2002.

In other words, your average Manhattan renter pays $41,316/year for housing before any other expenses.

Manhattan Rents Beckon Brooklynites - WSJ.com

[OffenseTaken]

I was thinking about living in the city after graduation, so I can be walking distance to all my favorite clubs, but I can't find a 2BR with granite countertops, roofdeck, and a parking space anywhere in Center City for less than $1100 a month. Like I would pay that much when I found a 2BR in Downingtown with TWO parking spaces and a friggin' hot tub for $1050! Sorry Philadelphia, you need to be more competitive if you don't want to be so ghetto. It's all Nutter's fault.

[Naveen]

Rising Rents Create a Demand for Manhattan Walk-Up Buildings

So is Williamsburg still full of hipsters, considering how expensive it is? Or are all those hipsters trust-fund kids to begin with?

I was thinking about living in the city after graduation, so I can be walking distance to all my favorite clubs, but I can't find a 2BR with granite countertops, roofdeck, and a parking space anywhere in Center City for less than $1100 a month. Like I would pay that much when I found a 2BR in Downingtown with TWO parking spaces and a friggin' hot tub for $1050! Sorry Philadelphia, you need to be more competitive if you don't want to be so ghetto. It's all Nutter's fault.

Nail, hit on head. If this doesn't sum up the attitude of the Philly metro area I don't know what does.

[JakeL]

I was thinking about living in the city after graduation, so I can be walking distance to all my favorite clubs, but I can't find a 2BR with granite countertops, roofdeck, and a parking space anywhere in Center City for less than $1100 a month. Like I would pay that much when I found a 2BR in Downingtown with TWO parking spaces and a friggin' hot tub for $1050! Sorry Philadelphia, you need to be more competitive if you don't want to be so ghetto. It's all Nutter's fault.

With housing rates in Center City exceeding 90% occupancy, it seems like rental prices are in line with market demand, if not a little bit low.

[Hospitalitygirl]

So is Williamsburg still full of hipsters, considering how expensive it is? Or are all those hipsters trust-fund kids to begin with?

Probably trust fund hipsters.

Kiddo lives in Ft. Greene these days, and they looked around and took the bite for a place they could be in for 2-3 years easily. It's cute and not tiny by NYC standards, and fortunately they're paying just a bit less than the chart shows, but they do feel the difference between living here and there in most regards.

[OffenseTaken]

So is Williamsburg still full of hipsters, considering how expensive it is? Or are all those hipsters trust-fund kids to begin with?

All but the most well-heeled of twentysomethings have migrated out to Bushwick, Midwood, etc., all the way out to Canarsie. Williamsburg isn't Brooklyn's Soho now; it is Soho.

It's mind-boggling: fifteen years ago, the L train was where Russian immigrant girls got assaulted. Many people wouldn't even take it across Manhattan, it was so sketchy. Now you can ride it for the entire length and pretend you're in an episode of "Portlandia."

[borntochill]

All but the most well-heeled of twentysomethings have migrated out to Bushwick, Midwood, etc., all the way out to Canarsie. Williamsburg isn't Brooklyn's Soho now; it is Soho.

Exactly. Well...except for your including Midwood in there. On that one, I think you're a bit confused about geography and/or demographics.

The people filling up the new glass and steel towers along Kent Ave. in W'burg are more likely to be investment bankers than trustfund kids.

[OffenseTaken]

...

[OffenseTaken]

Exactly. Well...except for your including Midwood in there. On that one, I think you're a bit confused about geography and/or demographics.

The people filling up the new glass and steel towers in W'burg are more likely to be investment bankers than trustfund kids.

I threw Midwood in there half-jokingly, but I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of new wine bars popped up near Bedford & Flatbush in the next few years.

[borntochill]

I threw Midwood in there half-jokingly, but I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of new wine bars popped up near Bedford & Flatbush in the next few years.

Possible, but unlikely, although who knows what will happen after the $70M Loew's King Theater renovation is completed in 2014. But still, you're not talking about Midwood. Bedford & Flatbush is the border between East Flatbush and Flatbush neighborhoods. Or the border of East Flatbush and "Ditmas Park" in the eyes of post-2000 Park Slope refugees who don't know their Flatbush sub-neighborhoods, or who wouldn't dare describe the neighborhood they moved to simply as "Flatbush" which sounds way too working class.

You're not in Midwood until you're at least as far south as the Brooklyn College area.