STAT OF THE DAY: Is The Lower East Side a Deal Anymore?

I wrote in today's Observer about the drops in doorman-building rents. The stats for that story came from a new February market report by The Real Estate Group New York.

Some of the other stats in the report show a marked increase in Lower East Side rents. For instance, the average monthly rent in a two-bedroom in a non-doorman building increased 3.3 percent from March of last year to $3,273. The average for a one-bedroom in a doorman building increased nearly 13 percent to $3,552. For perspective, that's comparable to the February average for the same apartment size and type on the Upper West Side--$3,567.