Yo, I don’t think we should talk about this
Come on, why not?
People might misunderstand what we’re tryin’ to say, you know?
No, but that’s a part of life
It keeps coming up anyhow
Don’t decoy, avoid, or make void the topic
Cuz that ain’t gonna stop it
Ok readers, enough about beer, kids, and sunflowers, summer is over and it’s time to get down to business. And nothing means business more in LIC than real estate. And nothing has a greater impact in LIC real estate than rental rates, as the overwhelming majority of Long Island City residents are renters.
The first six months of 2013 brought a lot of local business and real estate press screaming about big rental increases in the five boroughs. We linked to many of these stories, and even headlined our own back in early July: Free Beer, Expensive Rents, based on all these stories. More importantly, we heard numerous personal anecdotes directly from people in LIC, confirming significant increases. Several of these people even decided to move due to them, either out of LIC altogether, or to less expensive local digs.
Well guess what we’re hearing right now? A big reversal in this trend. Last month, a renter in a TF Cornerstone building told us they received a zero percent increase year-over-year. Timing is everything, and rental rates are volatile and quickly adjusted due to new computer software used by all the big landlords to optimize their yield. Yet we here at LICtalk cannot help but give ourselves a big slap on the back for our prediction way back in January:
“Everywhere I look I see lots of buildings going up, and every one of these buildings is slated to be a rental. Even the fallen crane on Center Boulevard has been fully dissected, so construction should resume shortly.
Thus I expect local rents to stay flat in 2013!”
And since I got it so right the first time, I’ll give myself another plaudit from the past:
Lots of news outlets can tell you what has happened, here at LICtalk we go one step beyond and give you a prediction about the future of residential real estate in Long Island City.
We would like to get your feedback on the trend in Long Island City rents. We would greatly appreciate your posting in the Comments section your 2013 rent renewal experience. Thank you, The Editor.
Surprise! No Rent Increases – “when we gaze at behemoth rental towers that offer perks like full-time doormen, health clubs and live-in supers, those annual rent increases seem as inevitable as a roof-deck misting station. But that may just not be true.” Well it took the NY Times until late August, while we here at LICtalk went out on a limb back in January.
“Rental renewal rates are proprietary to landlords and nearly impossible to track.” Please help us develop a local database by responding in the “comments” section.
When Apartment Rents Climb, Landlords Can Say ‘The Computer Did It’ – you see, Hal is evil
Savanna Eyes LIC’s Signature Signature Skyscraper – aka The Citibank Building. Once again, this will have zero effect on LIC. It’s almost become like flipping 1000 shares of Microsoft.
Farewell 5Pointz, Visit While You Still Can – another in a long line of au revoirs
Hunters Point Library Might Be Delayed Due to Budget Constraints – once again this project might get pushed out, this time because it wasn’t budgeted correctly
Local LIC Business, Aereo, Could Be Going to the Supreme Court – gotta root for the hometown guy!
Waterfront and Airport Buses Rolled Out – you can now catch a direct bus to La Guardia of the 7 train! Oh, and get to Costco by bus too.
LIC’s Shady Park Reopens After Sandy Repairs – no, it opened 2 weeks ago to kids. Friday the adults got to yuk it up.
LIC Queens Gets Second Bite of the Local Apple – about our new green market on Vernon