NYC rent freeze covers 1 million households; court fight continues

Rent increases for roughly 1 million New York City rent-stabilized households were halted effective Oct. 1, when the Rent Guidelines Board's 7-1 vote replaced last year's approved raises with zero.

The board voted on June 26 to stop increases on one- and two-year leases after Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigned on pausing them as an affordability measure. The increases approved in 2025 allowed 3% on one-year leases and 4.5% on two-year leases.

For an allocator pricing a rent-stabilized New York multifamily position, the freeze means the rent growth assumption now depends on the outcome of the court challenge.

The board cited landlord expenses up 5.3% in 2026 and income for residential owners up 6.2% over the same period. With rents flat, the added costs hit net operating income directly. Debt costs also rose: the 30-year mortgage rate stood at 7.03%, against 6.3% a year earlier, according to the New York Apartment Association.

The New York Apartment Association estimated in late September that heating oil and natural gas were 28% above the board's forecast for 2027, measured against the same time in 2025. “First and foremost, the RGB ignores at a minimum 130 different expenses that are imposed on these buildings from city and state regulations,” Kenny Burgos, the association's CEO, told Commercial Observer.

The freeze faces a continuing court challenge, Commercial Observer reported. Separately, the City Council voted 38-9 this month to require sellers to notify HPD before listing a covered rent-stabilized building, as Private Wealth Daily previously reported. The board sets increases once a year; the next scheduled decision is the 2027 cycle.