NYers Pony Up $10K Just To Move Into A New Apartment, Study Finds

NEW YORK CITY — Want to move into a new apartment in New York City? That'll be $10,000, according to a new study.

The money New Yorkers have to pony up on "upfront costs" — first month's rent, security deposit and broker fee — before they even think about moving climbed 29 percent since the coronavirus pandemic, a StreetEasy study found.

In actual dollars and cents, the average upfront cost stood at $10,454 across the city during 2023, the study found.

And that high cost is 14 percent of New York City's median annual household income of roughly $75,000 — a hefty price that keeps renters from moving, the study states.

"Soaring upfront costs have made it more challenging for New Yorkers to move even within their own city, causing a 'lock-in effect' wherein renters who want or need to move are unable to leave their current apartments," the study states.

New York City's upfront costs historically have been higher than those in other cities, but not quite this high.

The study calculated the city's upfront costs were $8,125 on average in 2019.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for many renters, broker fees account for the lion's share of upfront costs, the study found.

StreetEasy economists calculated upfront costs by assuming a broker fee of 12 percent of annual rent, in addition to the legal maximum amounts for security deposits and one month's rent.

Broker fees in New York City are often charged to renters even if they didn't interact with a broker, unlike in other cities, the study states. Instead, landlords pass along those fees to renters, according to the study.

New Yorkers who paid a broker fee likely spent nearly 43 percent more in upfront expenses, the study found.

"In 2023, the average upfront cost among listings that did not charge tenants a broker fee was $8,576, while the average upfront cost of those that did was $12,367, assuming a 12% broker fee on a listing’s advertised annual rent," the study states.

Read the full study here.