Mott Haven saw a sharp 85.2% rental inventory increase from a year ago, the highest increase of any New York City neighborhood, according to StreetEasy, an online real estate platform that allows for users to buy, sell and rent homes across New York City.
StreetEasy’s April market report shows that Mott Haven had 387 rentals on the market in April. In comparison to the entire borough, there were 921 rentals on the market in April, an increase of 2.1% from a year ago.
As inventory climbs, rent continues to rise both in Mott Haven and across New York City. The median asking rent is now $3,050 in Mott Haven — 2.7% above the borough’s median asking rent of $2,696. For all of New York City, the median asking rent rose 1.7% year-over-year to $3,700 in April, according to StreetEasy’s April market report.
Mott Haven has seen an influx in development in recent years. The neighborhood is one of New York City’s last untapped areas for waterfront development. As a result, large-scale residential developments have expanded leading to a boost in both luxury rentals and affordable units.
[Read more: One of NYC’s last developable waterfront communities, investment in Mott Haven continues]
Other waterfront communities are also leading New York City’s rental inventory growth. In 2005, the rezoning of Greenpoint and Williamsburg in Brooklyn allowed for the previously industrialized neighborhoods to develop. From 2005 to 2019, the waterfront communities saw the creation of 12,500 new housing units, including 2,100 income-restricted units, according to the New York City Department of City Planning. Greenpoint saw a 47% year-over-year inventory increase, the second-highest in New York City following Mott Haven, according to StreetEasy’s April market report.
The development boom leads to questions of affordability and gentrification as neighborhoods like Mott Haven expand to new buyers and rent increases citywide. ONE38, located at 138 Bruckner Blvd., is one example of a new 12-story full-service luxury rental building that announced the launch of new leases on May 15. Pricing for units at ONE38 begins at $3,050 for a studio apartment.
The increase in development for both market-rate and income-restricted affordable units has opened up renters’ options in Mott Haven, however, as 897 affordable housing units serving low and middle-income households have been completed in the past year in Mott Haven, according to StreetEasy’s analysis of New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development data. Affordable housing is a need throughout the Bronx, particularly for districts like Mott Haven which had a 32.7% poverty rate in 2022 compared to an 18.3% poverty rate citywide, according to New York University’s Furman Center.
The report suggests that increased rental inventory will continue to increase opportunities for renters in the future.
“In the outer boroughs, soaring demand has led to tough competition so far this year,” Street Easy’s April market report reads. “While the decades-long housing shortage suggests competition among renters isn’t going away, rising inventory will gradually increase renters’ opportunities and lead to slower growth in asking rents.”
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