Landlord income up 6 percent as board considers rent adjustments for NYC’s stabilized apartments
Tenant advocates called for a rent freeze during the Rent Guidelines Board final vote on June 30, 2025. Photo courtesy of New York State Tenant Bloc.
The Rent Guidelines Board (RGB), the nine-member group that decides annual rent adjustments for New York City’s one million stabilized apartments, kicked off its annual review of economic conditions for both landlords and tenants this week. During the first of many sessions before a final vote on rent changes this summer, the board on Thursday released a report detailing the 2024 incomes and expenses of the city’s rent-stabilized housing stock. According to the data, the net operating income (NOI), or the amount of revenue landlords received after operating costs, rose 6.2 percent between 2023 and 2024 citywide, the third year in a row that NOI increased.
According to the report, NOI increased at different rates across the boroughs. On Staten Island, landlords of rent-stabilized units saw incomes increase by 15.1 percent, in the “core” of Manhattan, west of 110th Street and south of East 96th Street, by 10 percent, and in Upper Manhattan, by 9.1 percent.
Landlords in Brooklyn and Queens saw increases of 4.4 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively. In the Bronx, NOI fell by 0.1 percent.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani made freezing the rent a central pledge of his campaign last year, and in February, he appointed six members to the RGB, a step toward making his promise a reality. The board consists of two members to represent tenant interests, two to represent owner interests, and five members to represent the general public.
As mayor, Mamdani has refrained from explicitly saying the board should freeze the rent, since the members operate independently. But in a video posted on social media on Thursday following the board’s first meeting, the mayor encouraged tenants to testify at public meetings.
“You probably know how I feel about what should happen to the rent, but this is the chance to have your voices heard by the people who make the final decision,” Mamdani said.
Sumathy Kumar, the director of NYS Tenant Bloc, which formed last year to organize on behalf of tenants across the state, said the new data shows the need for a rent freeze.
“A rent freeze is the common sense first step to making sure that the New Yorkers who keep this city running aren’t priced out of our homes,” Kumar said. “Tenants are the majority of New York City and we are ready to win the rent freeze we deserve.”
But property owners said that NOI is a “flawed metric” for small rent-stabilized buildings as it does not factor in mortgage debt and major capital expenses. Plus, profits are lower for older buildings with a majority of stabilized apartments, in contrast to those with a mix of stabilized and market-rate rentals.
According to the report, income increased 4 percent in buildings with 50 percent stabilized apartments, 3.5 percent in buildings with 80 percent stabilized, and 2.4 percent in buildings with 100 percent stabilized units.
The study found 9 percent of buildings to be distressed, meaning the owner is losing income, slightly down from the year prior, with a vast majority of distressed properties built prior to 1974.
“This data is an average, so just imagine the thousands of small properties that are operating in the red,” Ann Korchak, board president of Small Property Owners of New York (SPONY), said in a statement.
“We need a more accurate and transparent analysis that uses more timely information and reflects the economic distress of small property owners.”
Last year, the board voted to raise rents by 3 percent for one-year leases and 4.5 percent for two-year leases, the fourth consecutive year of rent increases.
The board will release more reports and hold more public hearings in the coming weeks ahead of a preliminary vote on rent adjustments in May. See the schedule of meetings here.
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