Dec. 6, 2013 By Christian Murray
The ad reads: “Great big 1 bedroom in Sunnyside…Hardwood floors (recently redone). New Kitchen and bathroom…”
The ad is followed by an eye-popping asking price of $2,000 per month.
This 1,000 sqf. apartment, located at 41-19 41st St# 3, represents the dramatic change that has been occurring in Sunnyside in recent years. Studios that were once less than $1,000 per month are now renting for about $1,300 and one bedroom apartments are reaching heights of $2,100.
Many outsiders are not aware that there has been a significant increase in rental prices in Sunnyside in recent years.
“The New York Times and other publications often say you can get a $1,300 [1 bedroom] apartment in Sunnyside,” said one realtor. However, “that’s very rare.”
Most 1 bedrooms are listed in the $1,600 to $2,100 range, realtors say. Studios often fetch $1,500. But despite the high price tag, there have been some positives.
The quality of apartments has improved—as landlords (or management companies) continue to renovate them to lure high-paying tenants. “They have been gut-renovating them and installing new appliances,” said Linda Santini-Tripodis, a broker at Merit Group & Associates. “In the old days, it was just a quick paint job.”
Nevertheless, there are signs that Sunnyside’s rental market is peaking. “[One bedroom] Apartments that are listed at $1,900 or $2,000 are starting to sit on the market,” said Luis Santa, who owns Rapid Realty in Sunnyside. “Instead of being rented within a day, they might sit on the market for a little over a week.”
Santa and Tripodis —and other realtors who didn’t want to be named–believe the market is nearing a high.
“I think the market is about to peak,” Santa said. “The landlords are very strict about tenants making at least 40 times the rent,” he said. “With rents rising there are fewer people that are meeting those requirements.”
However, several realtors did say that many young professionals have been coming from Manhattan and Brooklyn and are not having any difficulty paying these rents. Therefore, the landlords are holding out to get them.
But Tripodis said that Sunnyside will need to offer these prospective tenants more if rents are to go much higher. “Will they pay 2250 next year for a one bedroom?”
“Will they feel that Sunnyside offers the type of stores and restaurants to pay such rent,” she said. “Do we have the amenities that these people are looking for? I guess we will see.”
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53 Comments
That’s great !!!!!!!I’m raising my rent for summer…more$$$ in my pocket…
Dang — I’m renting a 2br sunnyside apt for 1500… I feel really — dunno — right now. I knew it was low but dang not that low. Problem is I’d rather rent cheap to good understanding tenants then high to tenants who will make my life hell.
I’m not a management company with loads of cash on hand for conveniences. These old house all run hot on the second floor — it would cost me 2k to fix that with local temp regulators, etc etc. I dont want a uppity snob complaining about small things like that 24 /hr a day, so I will keep to the idea of good tenants are better.
43 n 43 the last I read two people near you ODed on the north side,you had better move again
@ 43rd & 43rd
You can find undesirable pockets almost anywhere. I lived on the Upper East Side for ten years and despite the generally “good” rep that area has, drug and alcohol abuse were rampant. There were also hoarders all over then place and even a couple of public housing projects sprinkled around by the city I suppose to promote “diversity.” But that doesn’t make the Upper East Side a ghetto, does it?
In any event, Kelly made the offensive and totalizing statement about the “ghetto trash on the south side.” As I said, yes there are poor areas over here but that does’t legitimize the making of a statement of that magnitude. That’s called stereotyping.
I can’t believe people are claiming the whole south side is “not ghetto.” Yes, there are some perfectly fine blocks, and obviously the majority of people are nice and normal. But are some parts of it ghetto — yes, absolutely. A few years ago, I lived in the apartments south of 48th. They were filthy, many of the other residents were terrible, I ran the gauntlet every day, there were needles in the stairwells . . . that’s ghetto!
This is what happens when we tolerate hipsters instead of making them feel unwelcome and unwanted.
Can we get the serial car tire thief back in action to scare away the expensive renters??
(only kidding)
Actually if the 7 train continues to suck so bad Sunnyside will now be “an hour away” from midtown instead of “15 minutes” (though in years of commuting every day it’s NEVER actually 15 minutes).
@Kelly
I have an MBA from an Ivy League school and have been fortunate enough to have had made enough $ to be able to afford to buy. After looking at many areas I decided on Sunnyside south of QB. I bought last year. My neighbors are awesome hard-working people. It is the furthest from ghetto as one could be. I’d say that I hope your ignorant self stays north of QB, but I’d actually prefer it if you left town altogether.
Show me one 1br under $1,000 in Sunnyside which I can rent now?
buy buy buy only works if you have downpayment downpayment downpayment
some folks are forced to move for jobs
Still not a cool, hip neighborhood – look at the empty stores. Also, I think that more will go under on Skillman. It is a pity, but I believe that will happen. Also: note that Roosevelt Avenue ruins everything – it is dark, dirty, pigeon ridden and disgusting. Has some decent restaurants but the 7 train ruins it.
%doc I’m sure there are some people who have piles of money sitting around that they could but don’t use to buy an apartment. But in my experience many people rent can’t afford to buy. So, in fact ALL their skin is in the game.
The rent is TOO damn high, that’s why I buy, buy, buy!
I laugh at you hipsters moving in and out within a few months. You guys are nomads, moving with but a few boxes of possessions. You know why? because all your money goes into rent
you hipsters go from apartment to apartment never satisfied, you never truly have a place to call your home just a place to hang out until something else cooler comes along. And then I see you , hogging the elevator with some ikea furniture and some books and some boxes of clothes.
I’ve lived in my apartment for 35 years, I come in and out of my apartment with these people looking at ME like “what am I doing here, I should be in the ghetto”
you hipsters do NOTHING for this neighborhood , just look at that twit Kelly and her comment, South Side is ghetto, hey sweetheart, before you people started overpaying for your glorified closets, the north side was pretty damn diverse , my building was FULL of spanish people until Vantage came along and started bullying people out of them and tricking them.
This neighborhood is a big ol’ mess, with the people in charge creating a big ignorant utopia while ignoring the south side. Places keep shutting down because the people who DO live in Sunnyside don’t shop or eat here. It’s loud and dusty from queens boulevard and the sidewalks are always crowded. Not to mention your regular homeless problem that the people we put in charge to fix things like that can’t seem to do anything.
@Kelly again…
I’d like to follow up by saying that I’ve researched the demographics of the south side using online census bureau maps and the average household income in most tracts over here is about $45-$60k per year, which is right around the national average. In other words, the south side is middle class.
A ghetto is an area with very low average income, widespread unemployment, high violent crime rates, and large-scale infrastructural neglect. South Sunnyside doesn’t fit that description. Yes, there are poorer, working class swaths that are heavily Latino, but this doesn’t automatically make the entire area “ghetto.” As far as I can tell, the vast majority of these people are industrious and employed even if they don’t pull in high incomes.
@Kelly
I live on the south side and I’m a college professor with a PhD and I make about $80k a year. And there are an increasing number of others like me over here. That’s not “ghetto” honey. Do some research.
Hey Woody, go f yourself!
Buying just means you rent from the bank. Buying is not cheaper. It just means you may stop paying rent one day.
Kelly is a racist
Kelly now is that any way to talk about the White trash Drunks who hang out on Queens Blvd. Ghetto trash is a code word for African Americans or Latinos that’s used by WHITE TRASH such as yourself. the only trash I have ever seen here is WHITE TRASH. BY the way this Ghetto Trash owns his home in Sunnyside Gardens.
If you think the rent is too high, quit your bitching and buy. Put some skin in the game or F%%k off.
Look into these “new” apartments and you notice that 3 or more people live in them. Why not move into cheaper neighborhoods with more space.
Gentrifiers and others move into a neighborhood full of people who they think are beneath them. They tell their friends how cheap it is if you can stand the “natives.” More of them come in, willing to pay more than the people who were there before. Eventually the scales tip. The neighborhood is no longer cheap. In twenty years they will be complaining about the way the newcomers are changing “their” neighborhood and driving up prices.
The circle of life.
yea kelly move.. and all you other dirt bags who think paying a 1 bedroom apt for 1600 is a decent price.. i live in a 1 bedroom apt for $879.. and i live down the block from the train station..
Have you ever seen a ghetto? Let me asure you that the south side of Sunnyside is very, very far from “Ghetto”
Kelly, I wonder if you live in Sunnyside? How can you stand it? It is insulting to call the south side ” getto”, it is a decent place, convenient, nice people. Stop being so judgemental, you don’t like it, move.
My wife and I pay $1600 for a 2-bed, 2-bath with a 5 min walk to train. Stop paying what you don’t have to and help us keep Sunnyside affordable!
There is a byline. It was written by Christian Murray.
I’ve seen these “renovations” first hand… They are removing beautiful, hundred year old moldings, putting in cheap Home Depot style kitchen/bath. Killing all the charm, so they can say “it’s renovated”, and charge an extra 600 a month. At $2000 a month, you’re throwing away $24,000 a year… Why not just buy a place?
With all the ghetto trash on the south side, and a ten lane highway known as queens blvd., I can’t see why anyone would want to pay 2000 a month for an apartment in Sunnyside.
what happened to the old sunnyside i knew.. where rent was cheap and affordable..
If someone described an apartment that was “$2000 for a renovated 1000 sq ft apartment 5 minutes from the train in a not shit part of town” – most New Yorkers would jump on it.
Gentrification is a bitch, and so are brokers. Look anywhere else in the city and this neighborhood – even at these prices – is a steal. I got priced out of Stuyvesant Town, another supposed “middle class Oasis”, because my 1000 sq ft 2 Bedroom got jacked up to $4000/mo.
I ain’t sayin’ it’s right. But I’m happy to pay those prices here.
Sincerely,
Part of the Problem
I feel like some of these articles lately are not news; they are ‘stories’ disguised as ads for real estate agents. Full disclosure please
Unlike the other articles on here, there’s no by-line to this piece. I guess the real estate broker who wrote it is too embarrassed to put his/her name on this sales piece.
MEOW!!!
I have a 2 bedroom with bonus office room for rent in Sunnyside for $2400 off 50th ave 42nd Street
Beautiful apartment 850 sq feet
Hardwood Floors Dishwasher quiet block 2 family house
If interested please call
No Fees…renting by owner
917 740 3661
It’s the hipsters’ fault.
I think these are still reasonable prices for a place within 15 minutes of Manhattan and so close to subway buses. Go check Astoria or Forest Hills. In Astoria you have to get off the train and walk for many blocks to north if you want to live in a decent place, and there are no buses in that area, very remote and rents are high. Forest Hills is amazing, have you checked by Yellowstone or Alan St? Amazingly high rents, but it takes over 40 minutes to get to city sometimes because you wait at least 9-10 minutes for E or F sometimes, terrible.
1800-2000 for large 1 bedroom or small 2 bedroom, or 2200-2400 for normal 2 bedroom without new appliances is reasonable, add more stuff like washer, dryer I think 2250 is extremely reasonable if it is a good condition apartment building.
When I was apartment hunting I was shocked to see what people were asking for small places not even renovated but seeing more of private houses made me realize what we can get for $2300/mo with 2 bedrooms. The biggest problem in this area is parking, and I know many people pay over $200 for outside spot and $300 for indoor spot.
I remember we used to pay $1100 for one bedroom on 46th street pre-war 15 years ago, and that same apartment goes for $1600 now, so it is really not that bad as you guys make it sound like.
Jimmy McMillan was right, the RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH! 🙂
People argue that the local food/bar/shopping scene does not support those prices. I would agree, despite all the awesome cheap ethnic eats, not really what the people who pay that kind of money are looking for.
But does Long Island City? Nope. It should be noted that a large amount of the influx are the extension of the Long Island City crowd. On the 7 train, not far from midtown (relatively). A few years ago I met a woman who moved to Sunnyside around the same time I moved to Woodside. We asked what her favorite restaurants were. She said she never ate in Sunnyside. These are people who work in manhattan, who go to the gym in manhattan, who get their laundry done in manhattan and they take the 7 train home and aren’t looking for hipster williamsburg bars or yuppie park slope cafes. Just slightly cheaper rent.
I could not afford to RENT the home I OWN.
THE REAL ESTATE RAPISTS HAVE NO SOULS.
MONEY. MONEY. MONEY.
Drive that rent up as high as it can be.
To HELL with the fabric of the Community.
All that matters is PROFITS.
Of course the realtor and broker world LOVES this article. I live in Sunnyside and the “1” bedroom I have isn’t worth half of the $1,600 I pay. Yet the realtors, I mean criminals, would love to fill your head that Manhattanites are moving to Sunnyside because of the 7 train. Not to mention they’re not batting an eye at a $2,000 per month price tag? Yeah right.
I could rent places cheaper in Manhattan or Brooklyn but greedy brokers concerned about their fee keep Sunnyside expensive. The city’s rental market is a joke and organized crime in my opinion. Try LA where $1,600 gets you ocean breezes not bed bugs like here.
Good keep raising the rents we need to get rid of the RIFF RAFF of course we in Sunnyside Gardens have gotten ridden of most of our Riff Raff. Just a few Old Drunk Farts left.
I’m glad that property owners are renovating their apartments. I’ve seen nice work, but I’ve also seen partially-renovated one-bedrooms go for as high as $2,100 in Sunnyside.
I worry. I am responsible and financially stable, but don’t want to be priced out of my neighborhood. If greed takes over, what’s left for the rest of us?
Nothing we can do about it I suppose. I suppose we should also be angry with the people who are willing to pay those high prices.
LT
“while this is a great neighborhood i do not think it has the number of restaurants or cafes or quality stores that these rents demand…”
The thing is that all the other neighborhood with easy access to Manhattan are far, far more expensive. $2k on, say, 88th and 1st Ave in Manhattan will get you a 500sf unrenovated 1 bed in a 4th floor walk up.
If you are looking for space, Sunnyside is a comparative deal.
“Instead of being rented within a day, they might sit on the market for a little over a week.”
That’s called low season. And its completely normal this time of year.
$2k is a lot for a 1 bed in this area… but there’s not many other neighborhoods you can find 1000sf for that price.
“Will they feel that Sunnyside offers the type of stores and restaurants to pay such rent,” she said. “Do we have the amenities that these people are looking for? I guess we will see.”
In short, No! The quality of bars, stores and restaurants in Sunnyside do not support the current rental prices, let alone another increase.
Rent is high everywhere.
while this is a great neighborhood i do not think it has the number of restaurants or cafes or quality stores that these rents demand…(yet).
Realtors trying to game the market and force an increase in expected or reasonable rates.
1 – please don’t quote RR but welcome home
2 – prices are rising and that sucks
3 – $1,800-$2,000 only for a renovated 1br with new appliances
4 – you can still find good stuff around $1,600
My landlord just raise my rent 100$ To 1500 for a studio with separate bedroom ( tiny 1 bed) I’ve never had a renovation and t took them 2 years to fix a mold problem , that fix lasted 3 monts…..
I don’t think sunnyside is worth that much money … At least not yet
I guess if people with lots of money start living here someone will open a restaurant/clothing store/etc. that will lighten their heavy pockets.
Who says no one will want to pay $300.00 a month for an indoor parking space in Sunnyside Gardens? If people can pay that much for a one bedroom, they will have a few extra coins to keep the car safe and dry.
This is satire, right?