Once considered the more affordable alternative to the NYC rental market, Jersey City and Hoboken may drop that distinction in the new year, according to StreetEasy’s 2025 NYC housing prediction.
The real estate search engine released five major predictions for the coming year’s rental market, all pointing to affordability being a driving force in rental and for-sale decisions. But one of the most interesting predictions is the rise in rental markets across the river.
“More renters in 2025 will expand their search across New York’s rivers,” wrote StreetEasy after analyzing the rise of new developments in NYC’s outerboroughs and in New Jersey.
NYC hit a 60-year low vacancy rate in 2023. That, in addition to renter’s growing preference for modern buildings and amenities, make the city’s newer developments more appealing to renters, those of which are primarily being built in Queens and Brooklyn.
StreetEasy only expects this rise in new developments to continue across areas outside of Manhattan. The increased inventory across Queens and Brooklyn “will help stabilize the city’s rental market, as well as slow down rent growth in these boroughs and the rest of the city,” noted StreetEasy.
That being said, rentals across the Hudson in Jersey City and Hoboken also accommodate more of those modern aspects renters are looking for. Renters specifically searching for “hard-to-find amenities, like swimming pools and outdoor spaces with skyline views, may still be willing to cross the river into the Garden State.”
Therefore, StreetEasy predicts Hoboken and Jersey City’s median asking price will surpass Brooklyn’s, making it the most expensive rental market in the NYC area outside of Manhattan. The median asking rent for Hoboken and Jersey City this year was $3,160. Brooklyn wasn’t too far ahead, just a few hundred dollars more, at $3,424.
Find the remaining four major predictions StreetEasy has for the NYC rental market in 2025 on its blog.