Thousands of rent-stabilized apartments in NYC are under threat of foreclosure as an increasing number of landlords stop paying their mortgages — making the coveted units even more scarce, insiders told The Post.
Buildings with a cumulative 176 rent-stabilized units have been foreclosed upon since 2022 – a figure that’s been doubling every year on average — with another 2,093 stabilized units have been put on notice by banks in April that landlords are defaulting on their mortgages, according to an analysis by PropertyShark data.
“It’s a bloodbath,” said Sarah Saltzberg, co-owner of Bohemia Realty Group, who rents pre-war units in upper Manhattan.
Owners lose money on stabilized units, so they leave them empty and skip the listing — or walk away entirely, leading to foreclosures, Saltzberg said.
“The owners are under water — that’s why in the past year it keeps happening over and over,” she said.
Many of the pre-1974 buildings — the year NYC established the rent stabilization system — desperately need repairs, but owners have stopped investing due to 2019 laws capping rent hikes after improvements at 2% and banning landlords from raising rents by up to 20% upon vacancy — changes that cut property values. Rising interest rates over the past three years also slowed renovations to a crawl.
Hellbound and Down 