The dream of living in New York City has some willing to endure tight conditions to afford the cost. A microstudio, available for $1,200 in rent, has gone viral for its amenities, or lack thereof, to subsidize the price.
Real estate agent Omer Labock shared an Instagram reel on Feb. 18 detailing a microstudio in the midtown area of Manhattan. The abode boasts an extremely modest 115 square feet and does not provide an in-unit bathroom or kitchen. The tenant would have to share those essential housing features with fellow renters in the building.
Eligible tenants will receive one window, a wardrobe space, and a shared bathroom down the hall. The kitchen inside the apartment was nonexistent. The apartment is on the third floor of a walk-up building.
The price tag, comparable to fully equipped and larger apartments elsewhere, is indicative of NYC’s dire housing market. The nation’s most populated city is known for its exorbitant rent prices, with Zillow’s estimation for the average cost for a studio being slightly over $3,000.
All across the nation, rental prices are climbing, and currently 29.4% higher than before the pandemic, per NerdWallet. The publication also listed NYC as the second-most costly rental market, with San Jose, California, taking the top slot.
The trend toward living alone, which has seen a substantive increase over the past years, has also increased rent costs due to the rising demand for studio and one-bedroom apartments. Fortunately, prices are expected to drop due to an oversupply of vacant residences, especially in cities where remote workers fled for cheaper housing, such as Texas hotspots Austin and Dallas.
However, until this trend is felt across the country, renters must deal with housing conditions such as the microstudio as the new affordable living options.