If you can afford it here, you can afford it anywhere.
TikTokers across the Big Apple are crying fowl as their reasonable, COVID-reduced rent rates are skyrocketing back to pre-pandemic numbers. The sudden shift is seeing New Yorkers asked to pay nearly double for their once bargain-level, free market apartments.
“I just got my new lease and guess what? They’re raising my rent 48 percent and it’s f–king legal,” TikToker and actor Gabbie Fried griped about the unit she “got during the pandemic at pandemic prices.”
“Welcome to my life … So fun living in New York City!” Fried, a Kansas native added sarcastically.
Another renter, 25-year-old TikToker Lana Rahmani was gutted to see her $2,500 unit blast up to nearly $5,000 a month in February.
“Me: finally happy and getting used to my life in nyc. My landlord: your rent is increasing from $2500 to $4950,” Rahmani captioned her speechless video where her eyes bulged out in shock.
Those extreme cases are some of the several devastating rent hikes that have recently hit New York renters where it hurts most, according to a recent report by the property site Zumper.
NYC had the highest rents across the US in January as the median price of a Manhattan one-bedroom unit increased by 25% this year compared to 2021, while a two-bedroom has jumped by 27%, the data found.
The astronomical price swell caused two New York women to actually scream on camera upon learning their rent went up $1,000.
“She cannot afford [rent],” TikToker @Camptaylur says while putting on a brave face.
Addy Bible, another New York woman satirically laughed through the pain when she found out her building is “increasing [her] rent from $2,500 to $4,360.”
Experts say that the renter’s market brought on by the pandemic’s mass exodus is officially reversed.
“What we are starting to see now is people moving out to their second- and sometimes third-choice neighborhoods. If you had dreams of living in the West Village or Brooklyn Heights, good luck — it is just so, so tight,” Pamela Liebman, president and CEO of the Corcoran Group, told The Post. “During the pandemic, people were able to cherry-pick the locations they wanted and now it’s back to, ‘OK, I don’t care where I am — just make sure I’m in Manhattan and have a doorman.’”
The rent hikes have been hitting New Yorkers hard, with some New Yorkers complaining that the increases started last fall, but have now become totally unmanageable.
“It’s like having to start over again,” said Mark Salzwedel, a 59-year-old advertising professional who snapped up a $1,900 alcove studio (negotiated down from $2,200) in a Financial District high rise in October 2020.
Just about a year later, Wall Street came crashing down on Salzwedel when he faced a 79% monthly rent jack to $3,400.
“Do I have to go back to washing my own dishes and buying tons of modular components to make up for the lack of storage space?” Salzwedel told The Post, mentioning he sought legal action against his landlord — only to learn that they can lawfully raise rents as high as they please.
“I don’t want to move, but I have to move,” he said.