How much does it cost to rent apartment in NYC?

A lot more than you think at this moment.

How true with the current mortgage crisis and the Bank Bail outs...

Probably more of a question of "how long" does it take to build a new Appartment complex and not "how much" cause I'm guessing it's going to be awhile... (as of july2009)

Otherwise take your regular local Residential building cost (what it would normally cost you to build a house) per Square foot .... then figure how much square footage your going to have... My Appartment I'm living in Texas is an effecintcy maybe 500 to 800 sqft add in Appliances... stove... ice box... dishwasher... HVAC unit... water closet... tub shower... kitchen sink/disposal and bathroom lavatory... and that should get you a good starting figure...

keep in mind that Building something like an Appartment should afford you some "economy of scale"....

Off the top of my head I would figure here in Texas (out in the boonies... not in one of the metro area's like Houston ,Dallas, Austin, etc.... ) $75 per sqft gets you a decient quality residential house.... 500sqft times 75 equals..... $37,500 then multiply that by 100 units.... $37.5mill..... probably a bit less than that with scale figured in and that you would not always build 100 units and all the units would not all be effeincys... multi room appartments are oviously cheaper to build as you need fewer Appliances per sqft...

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Sorry but the math someone posted is wrong.
$75 x 500 sqft = $37,500 x 100 units = $3,750,000 not 37.5 Mill