To Paraphrase Mel Brooks, It’s Good To Be Landlord!

Sobering economic analysis from the New York Press:

The Consumer Price Index, which tracks the effect of inflation on urban living expenses, jumped nearly one percent for NYC in the month of April alone according to various sources. The CPI for New York had risen less than three percent the entire previous year. This means everything here is costing more money. The rise in the CPI is fueled by the unstoppable escalation of oil prices and a parallel increase in the cost of rent. With gas and interest rates up, more people are renting, and fewer new homes are being built.

But it’s not all bad news:

This squeeze leaves Manhattan with another fun statistic, reported in The Daily News: a 0.67 percent vacancy rate for rentals. Landlords find themselves charging 9 percent more for a one-bedroom than they did last year, and they’re still turning hordes of people away; the sort of people who are scrambling for the chance to live in a city that promises only to bleed them dry once they move in.