Average upfront cost for an NYC apartment with brokers fee hits whopping all-time high

The average upfront cost of a Big Apple rental apartment with a broker’s fee has reached an all-time high — nearly $13,000, a new analysis shows.The whopping amount includes the broker’s cut, first month’s rent in advance and security deposit, according to the study by the rental-listing company StreetEasy.The upfront average cost for such rentals now stands at $12,951 so far in 2024 — the most ever — and is about 47% less than the equivalent for a “no fee” rental, or $8,769, the website’s data show.

In 2023, the average upfront amount for units with a broker’s fee was $12,667 and $9,984 in 2019.The shocking new figure was released ahead of a highly anticipated Wednesday vote by the New York City Council on a bill that would shift the burden of costly broker fees off of tenants’ shoulders.The bill appears to have near veto-proof majority support.“The average New Yorker will be spending more than 10 percent of their annual income just to come up with these up front costs,” StreetEasy senior economist Kenny Lee told The Post.The website surveyed more than 500 tenants for its study, and over 80% of the respondents said they believe landlords should be responsible for paying brokers’ fees, while 76% said they felt like they had no choice but to pay a broker’s fee to snag a Big Apple abode.“It doesn’t seem like that’s something that happens elsewhere,” said 31-year-old Williamsburg, Brooklyn, resident Kayla, who estimates she paid $4,000 in broker fees for her apartment seven years ago.

“Because I did all the work for this [apartment], I feel like I wasted my money.”Jemma Rowlands of Melbourne, Australia, told The Post that the brokers fee she paid for her first New York apartment in 2018 felt “expensive and unnecessary,” adding that a bill to ax the upfront cost “sounds good to me.“I’m not devastated for them,” she said about brokers, noting that her experience with her agent was minimal.Greenpoint, Brooklyn nanny...