News Yorks Rent Guidelines Board has agreed to increase rents for rent-stabilized apartments by as much as 4.25 percent for one-year leases and 7.25 percent for two-year leases, which is expected to affect no fewer than one million New Yorkers.

“Nobody’s happy with this increase”, said Nick LaPorte, executive director of the Associated Builders and Owners (ABO) of Greater New York. “It still doesn’t cut it in terms of what the owners’ cost increases have been for fuel, for unionized maintenance workers and for property taxes. Real estate taxes alone went up 18 percent last year in New York City, and fuel costs are making owners apoplectic. So where’s the win here?”