NYC Rent Stabilization Board Approves 2.75% Increase

The New York City Rent Guidelines Board on April 22 approved a 2.75% increase on one-year lease renewals for the city's roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, and a 5.0% increase on two-year renewals. The increases apply to renewals starting on or after October 1, 2026.

The 5-4 vote pushed the smaller-than-average one-year increase through after a contentious preliminary meeting on April 10, at which both tenant and landlord advocates rallied outside the board meeting. The final figures fall in the middle of the board's preliminary range of 1.75% to 4.75%.

"The rent guidelines process remains the most direct policy lever for renter households in New York," said Ava Farkas, executive director of the Metropolitan Council on Housing. Farkas said tenant groups had pushed for a rent freeze, citing utility-cost increases and property-tax relief that would partially offset landlord expense inflation.

Owner advocates argued for higher increases. The Rent Stabilization Association presented data showing that median operating expense increases for rent-stabilized buildings reached 6.1% in 2025, driven by fuel costs (up 9%), real estate taxes (up 4%), and insurance (up 15%). RSA president Joseph Strasburg called the 2.75% one-year increase "inadequate to the financial reality owners face."

Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement that the final result "reflects the delicate balance the board was asked to strike." Adams noted that about one-third of the city's rent-stabilized housing stock is in buildings classified as financially distressed per the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development's 2024 Stabilized Building Financial Health Index.

The increase follows a 2.75% one-year increase approved for the 2025-26 guideline year and a 3.0% rate approved for 2024-25. Cumulative rent-stabilized increases over the four years ending September 2027 will total 10.3% on a compounded basis, compared with 12.7% cumulative CPI-U inflation over a similar period.

Rent-stabilized units have shifted in demographic composition over the decade. A Furman Center analysis of Housing Vacancy Survey data showed the median household income of rent-stabilized tenants reached $58,000 in 2024, compared with $42,000 in 2014. Unit turnover has slowed, with tenure lengths averaging 13.2 years in 2024.

Outside the rent-stabilized sector, New York City asking rents remained historically elevated. StreetEasy reported a median Manhattan asking rent of $4,400 in March, unchanged year-over-year. Brooklyn median asking rents stood at $3,600. Listings inventory in Manhattan increased 8% year-over-year, the fourth consecutive month of annual growth in available supply.