Forecasts predict icy conditions ahead for New York City’s rental market.
New Yorkers remain, by and large, cooped up in their same old rentals, snowed in by frozen housing supplies. That’s according to Realtor.com’s year-end rental market report for New York City, which found that nearly 90% of Big Apple renters stayed put in 2024 — well above national levels.
An incredible 90% of NYC renters clung to their leases in 2024, as rents climbed and vacancies stayed stubbornly low. Christopher Sadowski
Mayor Mamdani’s rent freeze policy has been criticized for its potential knock-on effects on supply. Andrew Schwartz / SplashNews.com
The frosty conditions could signal trouble for Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s rent freeze plans, critics told Realtor.
Median New York City rents rose 6.6% to $3,585 last quarter, according to the report, marking an increase of $223 from the previous year.
Rent increased across all five boroughs. Manhattan rents led the pack with a 7.3% escalation year-over-year, followed by Brooklyn and The Bronx. A growing tendency towards lease renewals is further exacerbating the city’s scarce housing supply.
Nearly 90% of renters stayed put in 2024, Realtor found, citing the latest available American Community Survey data. Residents in The Bronx, in particular, prefer to stay in their longtime apartments, with the median move-in year being 2015. Nearly 94% of the borough’s renters in 2024 retained their 2023 leases.
The city’s stay-in-place rate towers above the national rate of 78.4%.
Beyond tightening supply, a rent freeze could result in worsening housing conditions and higher market-rate rents. Christopher Sadowski
The Mayor intends to ease the rental market with 200,000 new units over the next decade. Michael Nigro
A looming rent freeze on stabilized units, which make up 40% of occupied NYC rentals, could slow down tenant turnover even more, Realtor reported.
Mamdani’s rent freeze policy is slated institute a 0% annual rent increase for the city’s roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments. The plan targeted at reducing the city’s widely unaffordable housing costs has been criticized for its potential to worsen the inventory crunch.
The freeze could further discourage rent-stabilized tenants from moving, Realtor.com economist Jiayi Xu noted, making it even more difficult for incoming New Yorkers to find a home. Critics say the plan could also push landlords of these units to delay maintenance and drive up rents for their other, non-stabilized units.
The true impacts of the rent freeze depend upon market demand. Christopher Sadowski
Proponents of Mamdani’s plan, like Yonah Freemark of the Urban Institute, told Realtor the outcome of the policy depends on demand. Should NYC rental demand stabilize, Freemark said, the rent freeze would likely not affect costs. A freeze would also extend renters’ the same ability to stay in place that homeowners enjoy.
Housing experts can agree on one thing — affordable housing construction is a must.
“Tenants across New York City need relief,” Matt Rauschenbach, deputy press secretary for housing, told The Post in a statement. “That’s why Mayor Mamdani and this administration are focused on delivering the stability New Yorkers deserve — while expanding housing options and bringing down costs citywide.”
Mamdani’s 10-year plan for new housing aims to address the housing squeeze with speedier permitting processing and the $100 billion promise of 200,000 new units.
“The mayor’s commitment to build 200,000 new affordable homes speaks directly to the crisis this report lays out: a housing market that too often shuts working New Yorkers out, whether through relentless rent hikes or a lack of homes that actually meet their needs,” Rauschenbach said.