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Should you consider getting a roommate to save money on rent? – Metro US

Should you consider getting a roommate to save money on rent?

Should you consider getting a roommate to save money on rent?
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If there is one thing that is inevitable for many people looking to live in a big city it’s The Roommate.

People opt for housemates not only to try to replicate the friendships between roommates we’ve all seen on hit sitcoms for decades, but to save money.

And having a roommate can save you bigger bucks than you may think — like 13 percent of your income in some of the country’s biggest markets, according to a new study from Trulia, which was released in conjunction with the launch of its new “Room For Rent” feature, which lets renters post or search for rentable rooms.

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In New York, renters can save about $728 per month by splitting a two-bedroom apartment instead of a one-bedroom, according to Trulia’s study. Up it another bedroom, and they’ll see about $932 in savings.

Boston renters can save about $774 if they opt to have a roommate, or $931 if they have two in a three-bedroom place.

Philadelphia renters’ savings are a bit smaller comparatively, but who would turn down $438 in their pocket in a two-bedroom rental with a roommate or $539 for a three-bedroom?

Trulia also found that more than 20 percent of millennials have roommates, while 60 percent live with parents, siblings, other family or roommates. Both stats were 115-year high as of 2015 for the age group.

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Move over, Manhattan, and buh-bye Brooklyn. Queens is now, well, queen when it comes to having the biggest surge in rents, according to SpareRoom’s recently released New York Rental Index from the last quarter of 2016.

And what’s interesting about this report is that room rents in Brooklyn and Manhattan rose just 1 percent year over year, while the Bronx rose 4 percent and Staten Island fell four percent.

Manhattan, especially its lower enclaves, have seen skyrocketing prices, and in turn, pushed people to seek shelter in Brooklyn. But now with that borough growing and gentrifying more every day, there’s a simple reason renters are looking to Queens instead.

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“People looking to Brooklyn are finding themselves priced out,” Matt Hutchinson, SpareRoom’s communications director, told Metro.

With “one in three New Yorkers spending more than half their salary on rent,” Hutchinson fears that the city will eventually run out of space — and those willing and able to pay ever-growing rent prices. Should that occur, New York “could become a playground just for (those with money),” he said.

But there’s still one borough that might not be on renters’ radar. Yet.

“Staten Island is still there,” Hutchinson said.