Micro apartments are finally coming to New York - and that's good news for renters

The winning design of a 2013 micro apartment design competition is finally being built in New York City.

Called My Micro NY, the 55 affordable units are being assembled in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and will be stacked this spring in Manhattan's Kips Bay, according to The New York Times.

And while some people are griping about how the 260- to 360-square-foot apartments are not so affordable at $2,000 to $3,000 a month (for the regularly priced units - the 22 affordable housing units will have a lower rent), what they should be really excited about is what this trend could mean for the rest of the real estate market.

If the micro units are a success - which it appears they will be given the level of interest and a city-wide waiting list - more housing for singles in New York City will follow suit. For a population that is predominantly single, that means more housing will open up which in turn will bring down rent prices across New York City.

As The New York Times reporter Natalie Shutler explains (emphasis ours):

The project is being watched with interest by both housing advocates and developers, and not just because of its modular construction. Housing advocates say the creation of more micro-apartments could open up many more reasonably priced living options. More units dedicated to singles could eventually bring down rent prices across the city, as more two- to four-bedroom apartments would then open up to families. Singles looking for larger apartments to share with others may have artificially inflated the rental market, as the combined incomes of roommates can be greater than those of families.

The large NYC apartments that have become the norm since 1987 zoning rules are better suited for the 1950s when families were a more integral part of New York's real estate market, according The Times.

Today, many of those large apartments are already being broken down into multi-person apartments by temporary walls in order to fit in as many people as possible and drive down the rental cost.

As more micro-units are built across the city, New York's single population will have more housing options, which is good news for all of us.

Read more about New York's coming micro-apartments here.