What should be addressed is how the apartments themselves were broken into tiny little spaces in the first place. Some of these places I see online I recognize from my days in NY as chopped up spaces of what used to be one large house. The fact that people move from elsewhere to rent these spaces boggles my mind.

I can't agree more, cliokitty.

I think generally people who live in especially small spaces find them worthwhile if they don't actually spend much time in them -- something that's pretty easy to pull off in NYC.

Location location location! Some people prefer to live where they do because of their job or lifestyle.

On several ocassions, I've sacrfiiced space in exchange for a walkable neighborhood and a shorter commute . Of course, there are limits to the compromises each individual is willing to accept.

In some parts of the world, 150 sqft/person is plenty of space. Others might argue that 600 sqft/person isn't nearly enough.

"and it could even result in lower rents in the future."

Color me skeptical. I'll believe that when I see it.

Lower rents? Really? This will result in rents going UP for individual renters, as they will be forced to occupy more space than they really need. Bad for renters, bad for the market, bad for everyone.

I can see where rents might come down in that when landlords allowed the temporary walls to go up, they then can charge upwards of $3K for a unit that can, in theory hold 3 people in separate bedrooms (often sans the living room as it is sacrificed for an additional bedroom) but now that it's been reverted back to say, a 1 bedroom, they then can't charge as much for such a space as it may now be LESS desirable than before.

Then again, it might cause a bit of a shortage in living spaces so that might mitigate the potential rent drop to some degree.

Here in Seattle, I've not heard of this happening to the degree and certainly no actual walls have been erected that I'm aware of to divide the spaces to create additional space but it is certainly not as common as in NYC it appears.

This is unfortunate for renters who are stuck in a lease for an apartment the initially rented with the wall up, and were forced to take it down. If they have a room mate, they are now left exposed! However, I am sure that savvy New Yorkers will find design solutions.

I must point out that this does not mean that no one may put up a partition in their home. It just needs to be up to code and have the proper permits. This adds to the cost of putting up the wall, and greatly limits the # apartments that can do so, since the fire code requirements will inevitably render some apartments unfit for partitioning.

Seems like a big deal, but in NYC this should be a small issue for city dwellers to overcome. We always make a way!

-Shawn Jaysen
www.markdavidny.com/shawnj

ciddyguy: That is because Seattle has long ran a surplus of housing. All the prices and rents were speculative, based on a space shortage that never really materialized. Financial institutions are expecting Seattles bubble to take years more to bottom out.

I feel no sympathy for those complaining about having to remove their walls that weren't constructed in accordance with building code.