It’s hard to find a New York City apartment that’s in your budget — and apparently, a lot of New Yorkers don’t.
Nearly one-third of New Yorkers go over their initial budget when it comes to housing costs, according to a new study by StreetEasy, and millennials are the worst with overspending.
It’s not just renters that are paying more than they planned, either. Those who took the leap to home-owning were more likely to blow their budget, with 37 percent of homeowners saying they overspend, compared to 27 percent of renters.
The real estate site released its NYC Housing & Moving Trends report Tuesday, for which it surveyed 1,000 renters and homeowners throughout the five boroughs about the way they’re dealing with rising housing prices.
Forty-five percent of cash-strapped millennials chose a more expensive home than they initially planned on, according to the report, compared to 30 percent of Generation Xers and 19 percent of Baby Boomers shelling out more than they hoped on housing.
The affordability crisis in the city is well documented, but turns out, there’s a bit of a dissonance when it comes to New Yorkers’ opinions about how they’re fairing.
While 46 percent of New Yorkers think of the city overall as “unaffordable,” according to the report, only 16 percent of residents say their own home is unaffordable.
Though New Yorkers are mostly spending more than they’d hoped, that higher rent isn’t going to luxury amenities. More than 50 percent of New Yorkers ranked perks like doormen and in-building gyms as the least important factors in a home, prioritizing instead budget and the number of bedrooms.
Despite their reputation, millennials are interested in owning homes, according to StreetEasy. Their spending history on avocado toast aside, 34 percent of millennials are considering buying a home in the next year — more than any other age group (though the report doesn’t detail what percent of the older generations already own a home).
And even though they may be spending more money than they want to, millennials love living in New York City — more so than any other generation, according to StreetEasy. More than two-thirds of millennials said they’re satisfied with their New York City lives, compared to 57 percent of New Yorkers overall.
