The L train shut down came to a halt (well, the MTA still has to sign off on it), but that didn’t stop renters from saving some money.
According to StreetEasy, they “estimated that renters who signed new leases in North Brooklyn saved roughly $26.5 million in 2018, based on the rent cuts and discounts given during that period.” The impact of the potential L train shutdown was no joke.
In fact, rents in Williamsburg are now down 1.5 percent since April 2016, when the shut down was first announced. In 2018 alone, there were 20,000 homes list in North Brooklyn. And if you just negotiated rent or a lease prior to the announcement, you certainly saved some bucks in Williamsburg or Greenpoint. StreetEasy “estimates that renters signing new leases in these units in 2018 saved a minimum of $6.4 million compared to what they’d have paid if there were no shutdown and rents had remained flat.
So, that means if rents did actually rise as they did in the rest of Brooklyn last year, then tenants signing new leases would have paid an additional $26.5 million. Whoa. But, this is also means, that we can expect prices in North Brooklyn increase in 2019.