Now it's getting even worse.
According to a Bloomberg report, the average monthly rent in February for a studio apartment in Manhattan is $2,351.
The average rent for a one-bedroom is $3,400.
The numbers - both of which are the highest in seven years of record-keeping - come from a report by real estate appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and broker Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
Miller Samuel president Jonathan Miller tells Bloomberg that a "logjam" has been made "by people who have either been priced out of the purchase market or don't qualify for a mortgage."
As we've reported before, there are a ton of factors at work here - like the lack of space, supply-inhibiting zoning rules, high property taxes, high construction costs, minimum parking requirements, and the fact that rent-controlled apartments raise the rent for everybody else.
Plus, as the New York Times has so thoroughly reported, there's all the foreign wealth buying up Manhattan real estate.
The effects carry across of the East River.
With thanks to the logjam in Manhattan, Brooklyn recently became the least affordable housing market in America.