How a criminal situation affects the price of rental housing

Photo: depositphotos.com

Public safety and crime rates in major US cities have increasingly attracted attention in the news lately. Although the crime rate throughout the country has historically decreased since the 1990, the number of violent crimes has increased over the past two years. These recent outbursts underscore how sensitive communities are to security changes in the area.

This security is closely related to the number of establishments, access to public places and, above all, the price of rental housing. We all know people who have moved to a “bad” area due to more affordable rental prices.

Understanding the crime rate when searching for apartments can make you a more informed buyer. You can find out whether your offer is really profitable or an apartment is cheap because no one wants to live in it.

How are crime and rental prices related?

Renthop is studying this issue. They have an extensive rental database from major US cities. By combining this with crime statistics from law enforcement sources, we can help you understand the relationship between crime and rent.

Analysis Renthop confirmed the initial assumption that crime was negatively correlated with rental prices (which means that the higher the crime, the lower the prices, and vice versa).

In New York, for example, violent crime has the most negative impact on rental costs, while property crimes (for example, burglary or theft of motor vehicles) are less affected.

To start, we looked at rent and crime data for several major U.S. cities. Below is the total number of crimes in each city for the first half of 2016. Crimes are violent, which include assault, robbery, rape and murder, as well as property crimes, which include burglary, auto theft and theft. It is important to note that although they are used interchangeably colloquially, theft, robbery and burglary have different legal definitions. Total crime is the sum of all crimes, which includes violent crimes, property crimes, and several other categories.

Among overall crimes, New York leads the way, followed by Los Angeles and Houston. Looking at the subcategories, Chicago ranks second for violent crimes and Houston ranks second for property crimes.

However, this comparison does not take into account the number of people living in each city. The population is highly correlated with crime, and in larger cities there will naturally be more crimes. Showing each category of crime to 100 000 residents, the schedule changes.

While New York has the most crime in this sample of cities, it actually has the lowest crime rate. Compared to its large population, crime is actually low. A much smaller city, Atlanta, is the number one city for crime per capita. Houston and Miami are also in the top three.

Now we can find out how rent prices are related to crime. Create a chart with the price median and crime for 100 thousands of residents.

On the chart, we see a clear downward trend in rental prices in cities with a higher crime rate.

In New York, the highest prices and the smallest number of crimes, while housing rent in cities like Atlanta and Houston, is much cheaper, but there are more crimes.

We have just illustrated that with a decrease in crime, rental prices are likely to be higher.

Do some crimes more than others affect rental prices? To answer this question, we conducted a correlation analysis for each crime statistics.

From this analysis it is clear that in cities with high rents, mainly property crimes.

Price Rent and Crime in New York

Data from NYPDlisting all the crimes described in the 2016 year allowed us to make some comparisons and analyze crime trends.

To begin with, we looked at the number of crimes in each of the five boroughs of New York: the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.

Brooklyn had the most crime with more than 130 incidents reported in 000, while Staten Island had the least with 2016 incidents. Manhattan also has the most property crimes, while Brooklyn has the most violent crimes.

Again, this does not take into account the number of people in each area. It is likely that Staten Island, where one fifth of the population of Brooklyn lives, will have fewer crimes. To correct this imbalance, we calculated the crime rate for 100 000 people for each district.

When taken into account by population, the Bronx has the highest overall and violent crime rates. Manhattan has the highest property crime rate. Queens and Staten Island are the safest boroughs, with less than 1000 violent crimes per 100 residents.

As you guessed, these crime rates are closely related to the rental prices in each district. We evaluated common crime, violent crime, and property crime against the average rental price in order to understand the connection with each.

The level of violent crime appears to be moderately related to rental prices. The Bronx, with the highest level of violence, has the lowest rental prices.

The Bronx is the area with the highest crime rates, and Queens with the lowest. Queens is also one of the most accessible areas.

Before you go to Queens for your next apartment, you will need to think that many of its quarters are more populated, quieter and more isolated from nightlife. This greatly contributes to its safety, but it may affect its attractiveness for young people.

If you are trying to find a new apartment for rent, be sure to make maximum efforts to study the issue of security.

As we have seen from the data, those areas where the most brutal crimes are committed are also the cheapest.

Use the actual data of the police, try to talk with the current residents, and if you are comfortable, visit the area on your own. With the right information, you can find the very area you are looking for.

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