Dogs are among the most beloved New Yorkers, but new data shows that their arch rivals may actually be more welcome tenants in NYC apartments.
That’s right, according to new data from real estate and analytics firm NeighborhoodX, cats have a slight edge over dogs when it comes to pet-friendly listings for NYC apartments.
The study found that pet-friendly listings for studio apartments were 51.3 percent in favor of cats versus 47.7 percent for dogs, while one-bedrooms were 54.9 percent for cats and 51.2 percent for dogs. Listings for two-bedroom NYC apartments had the smallest difference, with 57.5 percent more cat-friendly versus 54.9 percent dog-friendly.
“All of the sudden I am seeing so many buildings setting dog restrictions in breed and weight in both sales and rentals,” said Triplemint agent Phillip Salem. “I have had many clients lose out on their apartments because their dog weights over 75 pounds. It is very sad because I am such a huge animal advocate, and these animals are like children to my clients, so losing out on their dream home because of a 10-pound weight limit difference is not only disappointing, but just very disheartening.”
Allison Chiaramonte of Warburg Realty recently had rentals in a pet-friendly Upper East Side condo building that had a “very limiting” 40-pound weight restriction for dogs but “no mention of cat restrictions,” she said. “Also, many rentals simply aren’t allow dogs full stop.”
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So why are NYC apartments going to the cats?
“It was surprising,” Constantine Valhouli, director of research at NeighborhoodX, said of the data. “The slight preference shown to cats isn’t significantly significant from a stats and analysis point of view, but talking to property managers and building owners, it turns out they’re doing this as a result of poorly trained dogs that are loud, that are barking at night and also the wear and tear a larger dog might do with nails with the rise of hardwood floors.”
Valhouli said NeighborhoodX didn’t see much specific neighborhoods with more cat-friendly or dog-friendly NYC apartments. However, “areas where the housing stock lends itself to approximating the suburbs in the city just by default are more dog friendly,” he said, such as Greenpoint or Williamsburg, where there are more single-family homes or properties converted into multi-family dwellings.
Those, Valhouli added, “just lends itself to dogs, as does older housing stock where it has that slightly scuffed character already, which is completely happy having a tumble of puppies coming in and out.”
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