Is it worth the extra cost?
More NYC Apartments Now Have Washer-Dryers
Call it another quirk of New York City living. Though washers and dryers have been ubiquitous household items in most of the United States since the Eisenhower administration, their emergence as a common feature in apartment searches in the five boroughs has been far slower.
Now they’re starting to gain steam. In-unit washer-dryers are included in about 34% of apartments listed on the rental platform StreetEasy, according to a citywide analysis the company conducted for Gothamist. That’s up from about 27% in 2021 and just 23% in 2019.
The machines have been the most commonly searched “must-have” feature on StreetEasy for the past four years as New Yorkers seek more convenience and private spaces when it comes to cleaning their clothes.
But here’s the catch: The listing company also found that the appliances are associated with 12% higher rent than comparable apartments that lack them. And by comparable, StreetEasy means apartments in the same neighborhoods, with similar square footage and bedroom counts.
By that measure, a landlord or property manager is likely to take a $3,000-a-month apartment and charge tenants $360 more a month. That comes to a grand total of $4,320 in additional rent over the course of a year-long lease, all because the landlord added appliances available for less than $1,000 a piece at Home Depot, not including the cost of installation.
Compare that to a laundromat, where at around $10 at most for a typical wash and dry, the cost only comes to about $120 a month if you did three loads each week, though some locations have better deals than that.
Is convenience worth the extra costs? Sam Moritz, a real estate broker who primarily shows apartments in Williamsburg and Bushwick, said the answer to that question is a matter of preference.
“For some clients, not having a washer-dryer is really a deal-breaker,” Moritz said. “But it’s really in the eyes of the renter.”
Moritz himself does not enjoy this particular amenity. He does his dirty laundry in the basement of his apartment building or at a nearby laundromat. But he advises owners to invest in the creature comforts most likely to give them the most revenue. He agrees that washers and dryers can add hundreds of dollars to the rent each month.
“Landlords come to me and say, ‘How should I renovate my apartment?’” he said. “The only things you should renovate to increase value are a washer-dryer, dishwasher and central air.”
Gothamist reviewed and visited apartments with washers and dryers in new and old buildings across the city, finding the appliances wedged beneath kitchen counters or stacked inside precious closet space. A range of New Yorkers weighed in on whether they’d shell out more cash for the convenience. Here’s what they said about the state of our laundry:
“That perfect scenario doesn’t always exist”
Hannah Gowans and her husband recently moved back to New York City after spending three years in Los Angeles, where they got used to having a washer and dryer in their apartment. Now, they’re caught in the grueling process of finding a new place in New York while they stay in a month-long sublet.
Gowans, 35, is an advertising account director. Her husband is a musician. Their budget is about $4,500 a month. They’d prefer to live in Greenpoint, ideally in an apartment with a decent amount of space and a landlord who isn’t a faceless corporation, she said.
But the city is in the midst of a housing crisis, where even pricey accommodations are scooped up in a matter of days, if not hours.
Gowans said most of the newer buildings she’s seen feature what she called a “cluster of amenities,” like parking spots, “dog-washing stations” and, of course, washer-dryer units. The appliances are now essentially standard features in new buildings
”Because of that, they are so much more expensive,” Gowans said. She expects to make some compromises but would prefer to at least have laundry in the building.
“Everyone would love to have their perfect scenario,” Gowans said. “But when looking at inventory out there, that perfect scenario doesn’t always exist.”
“You have more control over it”
If you ask Mariko Petronio, New York City is “ancient” compared to her native Japan, where she said most apartments come with washer-dryers, even though space is often at a minimum there, too.
Gothamist met Petronio in front of the laundromat Wash Land on the corner of West 48th Street and 10th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen. The price per wash and dry there is about $10. That’s less than the premium in the StreetEasy analysis, though customers do still have to lug their sacks of clothing down the street in all kinds of weather. Petronio said she lives in a rent-stabilized apartment — sans washer-dryer — and has been coming to the laundromat for 18 years.
“We put up with a lot of things,” she said of being a New Yorker. “So for that $300, $400 a month just to have a washing machine, I’d probably say no.”
Tenement Museum employee Sophie Grindon said she finds her trips to Wash Land therapeutic.
“Honestly, I like going to the laundromat. It’s time I take for myself, time to read,” she said while waiting for her clothes to tumble dry. “I’ve never visited an apartment with a washer-dryer. It’s just not in my price point.”
But Patric Richardson, an author and clothing care expert known as the Laundry Evangelist, said there’s a cost-benefit analysis that goes into any New Yorker’s decision to opt for an in-unit washer dryer.
“You pay for your time, right?” Richardson said. “You can do it at home, so you can throw in a load of laundry and do it while you’re watching ‘Survivor.’”
Parents with small children find the personal appliances convenient for tossing a seemingly endless stream of spit-up-stained bibs and onesies in for a quick rinse. That might not be the case for single adults and roommates.
Richardson said personal machines also allow people to better care for their clothing, and not feel obligated to scoop up every single marginally soiled T-shirt and stuff it into one weekly load at the laundromat.
“You have more control over it,” he said.
New appliances, prewar accommodations
It’s not just new buildings that now feature personal laundry sets. They’re becoming more common in older buildings that owners retrofit to accommodate new water hookups and electrical outlets.
“Since COVID, I see more units with washer-dryers,” said Chrisette Mignott, a real estate broker who specializes in leasing brownstones in Bed-Stuy. “I do have some instances where people won’t move forward because there’s no washer-dryer.”
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