Apartment rental prices are straight out of hell right now — in Jersey City, one man saw his rent go up over $1,200, which he shared in a TikTok that now has over 378,000 views.
"So, would you like to see the offer that I got for my lease renewal?" Oliver McAteer, whose TikTok handle is @olliemcateer, said in the clip. "[I currently pay] $3,400 for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom fairly small apartment in Jersey City. It's a great place, nothing to brag about, but it does the job. I definitely shouldn't be paying [that amount] for it."
"So here's what we got for 12, 13, 14, and 15 months," he continued as he pointed out the $1,200+ increase for the different lease duration options. "This last one here —15 months — is a more than 37% increase in rent."
"But wait, there's more! Because they're super flexible and understanding, they've also offered me a month-to-month rate. Do you want to see how much that is?"
"Just a cheeky $5,761 per month for the flexibility and the privilege of having a month-by-month contract. This is a nearly 70% increase on rent."
"This isn't even the craziest rent renewal offer that I've heard of from our building from neighbors. It's getting crazy, guys."
According to the New York Times, Jersey City is the most expensive US city to rent in, with the average asking price in the area being $5,500, more than double the national median rent price of $2,002.
And it looks like Jersey City prices aren't the only ones that skyrocketed. In the comments of his TikTok, many people shared that they were in similar situations in different parts of the country. One person in Boston explained what happened to them:
One person not too far from Jersey City also shared their experience.
There were even some stories about the rent prices over in Florida.
And someone else even said their rent went up so much that they had to get lawyers involved.
Whew, it's bad out here. Luckily, Oliver later updated everyone with some semi-positive news about what ended up happening with his lease renewal, so not all hope is lost.
"I managed to negotiate my rent down to $3,950, which is still big in the grand scheme of things — a $550 increase — but compared to where they wanted us, it feels like a win," he says in another TikTok.
