The NYC Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) annually publishes six research studies that inform annual rent decisions for rent-stabilized housing. The studies include the Price Index of Operating Costs; Income & Expense Study; Housing Supply Report; Income & Affordability Study; Mortgage Survey Report; and Changes to the Rent Stabilized Housing Stock.

Recently, the RGB released its 2025 Income & Affordability Study, the Income & Expense Study, and the Price Index of Operating Costs. These reports provide insight into the economic pressures facing both tenants and property owners and are key to understanding the rationale behind proposed rent adjustments.

Income & Affordability Highlights

The 2025 Income & Affordability Study reflects a complex economic landscape for New York City’s tenant population. This study highlights year-to-year changes in many of the major economic factors affecting NYC’s tenant population and takes into consideration a broad range of market forces and public policies affecting housing affordability, such as unemployment rates; wages; housing court and eviction data; and rent and poverty levels. 

Here are the highlights from this year’s report:

• Data from the 2023 NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey shows that rent-stabilized tenants (excluding those receiving rental assistance) had a median gross rent-to-income ratio of 28.8 percent. For all rent-stabilized tenants, the median household income was $60,000; median contract rent was $1,500; and median gross rent was $1,570. The vacancy rate for rent-stabilized units was 0.98 percent;
• Cash assistance caseloads rose by 16.2 percent in 2024, while the number of SNAP (food stamp) recipients rose by 3.0 percent, and Medicaid enrollees rose by 5.5 percent;
• The Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, increased by 3.8 percent in the NYC metropolitan area during 2024;
• Average inflation-adjusted wages were down 0.4 percent in the most recent time period studied (the fourth quarter of 2023 through the third quarter of 2024);
• Businesses within NYC added an average of 103,300 jobs in 2024, a 2.2 percent increase, but the average annual unemployment rate for NYC residents rose to 5.3 percent in 2024, up from 5.0 percent in 2023;
• Including asylum seekers, the average daily number of individuals in NYC Department of Homeless Services shelters increased by 8.6 percent in 2024. Excluding asylum seekers, the shelter census increased by 8.7 percent in 2024;
• Nonpayment filings in Housing Court decreased by 11.7 percent in 2024, and nonpayment cases scheduled to be heard decreased by 6.1 percent. The number of residential evictions rose by 22.6 percent.

Income & Expense Study Highlights

As part of the process of establishing rent adjustments for stabilized apartments, the RGB since 1969 has analyzed the cost of operating and maintaining rental housing in New York City. Until 1990 the board measured changes in prices and costs solely using the Price Index of Operating Costs (PIOC), a survey of prices and costs for various goods and services required to operate and maintain rent-stabilized apartment buildings, which include buildings that contain at least one rent- stabilized unit.

In 1990, however, the RGB acquired a new data source that enabled researchers to compare PIOC-measured prices and costs with those reported by owners: Real Property Income and Expense (RPIE) statements from rent-stabilized buildings collected by the NYC Department of Finance. These Income and Expense (I&E) statements, filed annually by property owners, provide detailed information on the revenues and costs of income-producing properties. The addition of I&E statements has greatly expanded the information base used in the rent-setting process. I&E statements not only describe conditions in rent-stabilized housing in a given year, but also depict changes in conditions over a two-year period.

Most important, I&E data encompasses both revenue and expenses, allowing the RGB to gauge the overall economic condition of New York City’s rent-stabilized housing stock.

This year’s main Income & Expense Study encompasses a sample of over 16,700 buildings housing rent-stabilized units, containing over 752,400 units reporting data for calendar year 2023 from the DOF RPIE submissions. Here are the highlights from the study:

• Between 2022 and 2023, Net Operating Income (NOI), or revenue remaining after operating costs are paid, increased 12.1 percent for buildings containing rent-stabilized units. After adjusting for inflation, NOI rose 8.0 percent;
• The growth in NOI citywide was greatest in Core Manhattan, where it rose 23.1 percent while in non-core Manhattan grew by 10.7 percent, the Bronx by 0.8 percent, Brooklyn by 10.1 percent, and Queens by 11.4 percent;
• Rental income increased an average of 6.9 percent, total income grew an average of 6.6 percent, and operating costs rose an average of 3.8 percent between 2022 and 2023;
• Citywide average monthly collected rent for buildings containing rent-stabilized units was $1,599, average income was $1,786, average operating cost was $1,160, and average NOI was $626 per unit per month; and
• For the first time since 2016, the number of buildings in distress (defined as negative NOI) declined, with 9.3 percent of all buildings with at least one rent-stabilized unit in distress.

Price Index of Operating Costs

Operating costs for owners continued to rise in 2024. The Price Index of Operating Costs (PIOC) measures changes in the cost of purchasing a specified set of goods and services (market basket) paid by owners in the operation and maintenance of buildings that contain rent-stabilized units in NYC. Here are some highlights from the report:

• The PIOC for buildings that contain rent-stabilized apartments increased by 6.3 percent this year. Over the past five years, PIOC costs have increased by a cumulative 28.1 percent;
• Real estate taxes rose by 3.9 percent, primarily due to a rise in assessments for Class 2 properties;
• Insurance costs rose by the greatest proportion in this year’s PIOC, 18.7 percent;
• The Administrative costs component rose by 5.1 percent;
• The Maintenance component increased by 4.3 percent;
• The Utilities component increased by 8.2 percent;
• The Labor Costs component increased by 3.7 percent, due to increases in wages for both union and non-union labor;
• The Fuel component increased by 10.3 percent;
• Overall costs in natural gas-heated buildings increased by 6.2 percent, while overall costs in fuel oil-heated buildings increased by 6.6 percent;
• The “Core” PIOC, which excludes the changes in fuel oil prices, natural gas, and steam costs, rose by 6.0 percent this year;
• Costs in Pre-1974 buildings rose by 6.4 percent, while costs in Post-1973 buildings rose by 6.5 percent; and
• The PIOC for buildings that contain rent-stabilized apartments is projected to increase by 4.8 percent next year.