The shock of 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani winning the Democratic mayoral primary sent ripples through the real estate industry. His campaign calls for rent freezes, city-owned grocery stores, and free buses—ideas that captured attention, especially among younger voters. But the housing crisis he leveraged isn’t new. It’s been quietly building for decades. The truth is: there’s no single villain or easy fix.
As a working real estate agent with over 24 years of experience in NYC, I’m not here to debate politics. I’m here to talk about what I see on the ground every day—what buyers, renters, and sellers are facing, and what might actually help move us toward a more functional market.
Demand Outpaces Supply—Again and Again
New Yorkers live with the reality of scarcity in many ways. Try finding a subway seat at rush hour and you’ll understand the basic principle: too many people, not enough space. The same applies to housing. When supply is tight, prices go up. In May 2025, the median Manhattan rent hit $4,800/month—a 7% year-over-year increase. Four years ago, it hovered around $3,360.
Most landlords use a general rule of thumb: a tenant should earn 40 times the monthly rent. That means you now need to earn nearly $200,000 annually to comfortably rent a median-priced apartment. For many New Yorkers, that bar is simply out of reach.
The Challenge of Creating More Housing
Estimates suggest the city will be short 500,000 housing units over the next decade. But building more homes in New York isn’t easy.
The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) recently released its New Building Construction Pipeline Report for Q1 2025. It found that multifamily housing activity rose to the highest level in several years—6,871 proposed dwellings—but that number still falls far short of the 12,500 units per quarter required to meet the Mayor and Governor's ‘moonshot’ goal of 500,000 new housing units over the next decade.
Zoning restrictions, landmark districts, and an often-cumbersome permitting process all slow development. Late last year, the “City of Yes” zoning amendments passed, updating NYC’s zoning for the first time since 1961. These changes allow for more housing in all neighborhoods by increasing density, facilitating office-to-residential conversions, and reducing parking requirements. The goal is to create approximately 80,000 new housing units over the next 15 years. This is why you may suddenly see buildings above your local bodega adding two to three more stories.
Even when developers get the green light, they face some of the highest construction costs in the country. Adding to the challenge are high interest rates and tighter lending standards, both of which make new projects harder to finance.
Most new housing—yes, even affordable units—is privately financed. Without meaningful financial levers or streamlined approvals, developers will build less. And when they build less, prices for what does get built will rise—which is why so many of the projects that do move forward are high-end luxury condominiums.
Incentives matter. Programs like the now-expired 421a tax abatement once made it viable for developers to include affordable units in new buildings. In its place, the ANNY program—codified as 485-x in the Real Property Tax Law—was created to incentivize affordable housing through tax breaks. Yet this program has much stricter requirements, which means it doesn’t work for every project. Some of the city’s most prolific affordable housing developers are now turning to other markets because the math simply doesn’t work here anymore.
Laws with Good Intentions, Complicated Outcomes
In 2019, the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) was passed to bolster tenant protections. While the goals were admirable, an unintended result was a significant drop in rentable units—many landlords opted to remove apartments from the market rather than operate under the new restrictions.
More recently, the FARE Act shifted broker commission responsibility to the party who hires the agent. In theory, this relieves tenants of that fee. In practice, landlords have simply baked the cost into higher rents. According to UrbanDigs, the Manhattan rental market saw a “sharp reaction” the week the law took effect: the average rent jumped 15%, from $4,750 to $5,500.
It’s worth noting: rental fees have always been negotiable. In my experience, tenants who advocate for reduced fees or landlord concessions are often successful.
What Renters and Buyers Can Actually Do
While the broader policy picture evolves, there are still ways individuals can navigate the market more strategically:
Renters: Understand your leverage, ask about concessions, and don’t be afraid to negotiate fees. You may also need to explore neighborhoods slightly outside your usual comfort zone. You might be surprised by what’s available. A beautiful new rental building on Fifth Avenue and 125th Street, for example, has just begun leasing.
Buyers: Look beyond the headlines. Value can be found—especially now that many would-be buyers have hit the pause button. Owning is still one of the best hedges against inflation and gives you control over your monthly housing costs. And if you’re willing to do a bit of homework, there are still smart ways to secure a favorable mortgage rate.
Let’s Replace Soundbites with Solutions
It’s tempting to look for housing fixes in TikTok-sized videos. But this issue is far too complex for slogans and hot takes. It requires long-term thinking, collaboration, and an understanding of how our city really works—block by block, building by building.
As someone who has spent over two decades walking those blocks with clients, I’ll be the first to admit: there are no easy answers. But there is a path forward—and it starts with honest, informed conversation about what’s working, what’s broken, and what it really takes to live well in New York City.
