NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- Tenants in New York City’s roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments will face a third consecutive year of price increases.
Prices will rise 2.75% for one-year leases beginning Oct. 1 or later, the city’s Rent Guidelines Board voted Monday. For two-year leases, rents will climb 5.25%.
The city’s rent-stabilized units — which house more than 2 million New Yorkers — have been under intense pressure in recent years. Landlords have argued that their income has failed to keep up with rising expenses, while renters have contended that owners are simply looking to supplement more narrow profit margins.
“This board’s votes, year after year, to continue increasing rents on tenants — many of whom are already rent-burdened or severely rent-burdened — prove that they are willfully uninterested in making informed decisions that will keep these units affordable for all New Yorkers,” said Adriene Holder, chief attorney of the civil practice at the Legal Aid Society, which represents tenants in housing disputes.
State laws passed in 2019 and earlier this year have made it more difficult for owners to deregulate apartments, cutting into a way they’ve been able to raise their revenues. Tenants’ groups have been calling for a rent freeze for stabilized apartments, arguing that the prices are already enough to cover landlords’ costs.
The vote’s outcome is “a rent adjustment that fails to cover inflation, nevermind the actual increases in operational costs, leading to lower quality housing for tenants,” said Jay Martin, executive director of Community Housing Improvement Program, which represents property owners.
The increases approved Monday are larger than what StreetEasy tracked citywide for market-rate apartments. The median asking rent was up 2% in May from a year earlier, according to the popular listings website. Rents across the city have started to stabilize slightly after more than two years of steep price hikes, thanks in part to an increase in available units.
Mayor Eric Adams had called on the board to approve a moderate increase that would help landlords afford building maintenance without overburdening tenants much beyond the current monthly rents. An earlier proposal from the Rent Guidelines Board this year endorsed potential rent hikes of 2% to 4.5% for one-year leases and 4% to 6.5% for two-year leases.
“Since preliminary increases were released last month, we made clear that the high end of the proposed rent increases was untenable,” Adams said in a statement. “That is why we are grateful for the board’s careful consideration of the data and their decision to limit increases this year.”