Report: Nearly half of renters in NY are burdened

America’s Rental Housing 2020, a recent report by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, found that nationally the rental market has changed a great deal since the 1990s.

The number of rental households is increasing primarily due to more high income households renting instead of purchasing homes.

“Rising rents are making it increasingly difficult for households to save for a down payment and become homeowners,” says Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a research associate at the Center and lead author of the new report. “Young, college-educated households with high incomes are really driving current rental demand.”

The report finds that cost-burdened households have increased as well, even for fully employed renters.

Explore their interactive charts here, or you can download their data to explore it yourself.

Long Island is grouped together with New York City into the New York City metro area for this report. It is a massive region and while Long Island specific trends or concerns might not be reflected clearly, it gives a good sense of our region as a whole.

About half of renters in our metro area are considered burdened, because they spend more than 30% of income on rent.

Additionally, there has been a 30% increase in high income renters since 2010 (high income defined as people making $75,000 or more annually).

For Long Island specific data, you can explore our housing map or our housing indicators.

We will also be exploring Long Island housing trends more in the coming weeks.