Is it true that there's a housing shortage in NYC?

Yes!   Definitely so, but that doesn't mean that housing is hard to find in NYC.   You can find it, but it means that rent gets driven through the ceiling due to low supply and high demand.  It also means more competition, so don't be surprise if you see listing for a place one minute, you request a viewing, and are informed its gone the next.   A really good place can get snatched up in days or hours, so the better the deal, the quicker you're going to have to move on it.  

Assessing the Market
NYC conducts a housing and vacancy survey once every three years.  At the time of the last New York Housing and Vacancy Survey (taken right before the pandemic)  there were about 3.6 million housing units in the city and the median rent was only $2000.      The vacancy rate in the city was under 5% with only 5% of those available units offering rent under $2400.   At the time that I'm the median rent for a NYC apartment is about $5000.   

In other words, you may have plenty of friends who are only paying $2000 a month rent.  The catch is that those apartments are off market because they're living in it, so everyone else is waiting in line for when their apartments come on market.   If their apartments happen to be rent controlled or rent stabilized, statistically speaking, it's more likely that they'll be less likely to move any time soon. 

What all of this boils down to is that when apartments come on market, it's likely that the prices will be inflated.   Likewise, as long as they're being rented out at market value, it's first come / first serve and odds are they're going to go quickly.

So, how should you navigate the situation?

• Search aggressively ("find and catch")
• Find an agent who's even better than you at the "find and catch"
• Be sure to have your basic documents ready and make sure applications are filled out thoroughly with nothing missing. 

This leads to the question:  Will the market come down any time soon?   This is a matter for debate, but considering that more housing needs to be built to meet projected demand over the next half decade, some experts predict stabilization at best.   
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New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (Initial Findings)
​(latest / taken every three years)

*see conclusion on pg. 66!