Home renters and businesses of all sizes are feeling the squeeze of soaring rents across the United States’ largest metropolitan areas.
Ecommerce has long been ascribed as the killer of brick-and-mortar retail, but the price of staying in business is also contributing to closures across the country. Menswear retailer Barneys recently had annual rent raised by more than $11 million on its Manhattan flagship location and has been forced to consider several options to cut back costs.
Steven Kalifowitz, President of Localize.City, a software technology startup that uses AI to give prospective home renters and buyers a wealth of high-level data insights, has followed the volatile New York City real estate scene.
“A place like Barneys can get really squeezed because a landlord wants high rent and because so many of these landlords have been here for so long, they don’t mind keeping a store empty for a certain time until they can get the right price.” Kalifowitz said. “The landlords in New York City are less concerned about month-to-month income when they can get such a big jump from someone else. And they have the cashflow to wait.”
Also contributing to the increase in rent prices is an imbalance of access to information on properties between landlords and renters.
“Until now, there’s been a large asymmetry of information. The people who own properties know a lot more than those who don’t. With that asymmetry going away, it’s changing how people are able to find properties and negotiate them,” Kalifowitz said.
Technology may be giving power back to buyers, but retailers are still at the moment fighting a two-front war against ecommerce competitors and leverage-holding landlords.
For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Software & Electronics Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.
Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!
Twitter – @TechMKSL
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale
Supply chains are under pressure like never before—fuel prices are volatile, driver shortages persist, and new technologies are rewriting the rules in real time. In fact, at major U.S. truckload carriers, driver turnover has historically exceeded 90% annually—highlighting just how urgent it is to improve both efficiency and the driver experience. Trucking isn’t just…
Healthcare is being pushed to modernize faster than ever, as AI tools, virtual care, and digital patient experiences shift from innovation to expectation. Recent survey data from McKinsey & Company indicates that about half of U.S. healthcare leaders say their organizations have already put generative AI into practice, underscoring how quickly the technology is…
The U.S. healthcare system is under real strain—and it’s something both patients and physicians are feeling in everyday care. In Texas, those pressures are even more visible, where rapid population growth, rural access challenges, and regulatory complexity are making it harder for patients to get timely care and for doctors to focus on medicine…
Skills-based learning has moved from buzzword to mandate as colleges face mounting pressure to connect credentials, employability, and measurable learner outcomes. Employers are increasingly using skills-based hiring practices, and NACE’s Job Outlook 2026 notes that students need to demonstrate concrete examples of skills in action during hiring processes. At the same time, higher education…
Artificial intelligence has already moved beyond the hype cycle and into the day-to-day reality of business operations. Companies across industries are rushing to integrate AI into their workflows, but many are running into the same challenge: it’s relatively easy to build something that works in a demo, and much harder to make it reliable…
Farming is under more pressure than it’s been in years. Costs are rising, prices are unpredictable, and every decision carries more weight than it used to. What many still think of as a traditional industry is quietly evolving, with more farmers turning to digital tools to manage risk and stay competitive. It’s not about chasing…
