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A new report claims a rent freeze in New York City would only lead a small percentage of landlords into risk of defaulting on mortgages. The New York City Rent Guidelines Board will vote on the freeze later this month.
David Reiss
Clinical professor
David Reiss is a Cornell Tech law professor with a focus on real estate finance and housing policy. He previously served as the chair of the New York City Rent Guidelines Board.
Reiss says:
“The NY Rent Guidelines Board has one very blunt tool — the ability to set rent adjustments for one and two-year periods for all rent stabilized units in the city. Discussions about a rent freeze should distinguish among the impacts on different segments of the regulated housing stock.
“The Moody’s report only analyzed the mortgages on buildings that had been securitized into CMBS. Other data sources, such as the Community Preservation Corporation 2026 NYC Rent Stabilized Portfolio Data Brief, show that signs of distress exist in the regulated stock. Most importantly, buildings that contain mostly rent-stabilized units face entirely different pressures than buildings that contain a significant number of market-rate units, as is the case with many buildings in Manhattan.”
