AUSTIN, Texas — One positive thing that has seemed to come out of COVID-19 pandemic is that rent appears to be dropping in major cities like Austin and even New York City.
And, this week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio exchanged tweets regarding which city is better.
The mayor shared an opinion article from Bloomberg that suggested New York was a better place for young professionals due to factors such as "in-person" work culture and the potential for a post-pandemic business boom.
"Move over Austin, because as the song says, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere — and it’s easier than ever for young dreamers to make it in the greatest city in the world," the mayor tweeted Wednesday.
On Friday, Gov. Abbott clapped back.
"Dude. Just stop," he said. "Because, as the saying goes, don’t mess with Texas."
According to Bloomberg, rents in high-cost cities such as San Francisco, New York, Boston and Seattle have fallen more than 20% compared to levels before the pandemic struck.
But rent's also dropped in the Austin area as well.
In November, RENTCafe.com reported that the average rent across the city had dropped by 4%. The report stated that Austin is a renter-majority city at about 55%, and that the average apartment rent was below the national average at $1,464.
About a month later in December, a report released by Apartment List showed that median rents in Austin fell about 5.4%. At this time, rent was around $1,179 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,440 for a two-bedroom apartment.
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