We know what you're thinking: is this post just an excuse to break out the Jimmy "Rent Is Too Damn High Party" McMillan image again? Which, honestly, we shouldn't even dignify with a response, but here you go: 1) what a ridiculous accusation, really and 2) yes, but only kind of. But there's more to this post than a wish to recall the fond memories we have of the pioneering karate expert/politician that Luxury Rentals Manhattan endorsed for Governor earlier this year. While we spend a lot of time following the ebb and flow of the market for Manhattan rental apartments -- and some time reminding everyone that rents, while high, are not quite as bad as you might think -- the nature of our work here gives us very little time to look into the how's and why's of Manhattan real estate. Or, as Jimmy might put it, the how's and why's of how NYC apartment rents became too damn high. But as Tom Acitelli writes in a terrific piece for the New York Observer, there are several very good reasons why Manhattan apartment rents seem so damn high -- and also plenty of reasons why NYC rents, while high, are not too damnably so when considered in context.
