Properties at Risk of Foreclosure Are Increasing in New York

Due to the economic crisis taking place in the country, many states and families are seeing their finances affected by all the economic, social, and legal changes that are being applied, and that they must accept as soon as possible if they don’t want to put their financial stability or the stability of their properties at risk.

One of the places most hit by this situation is New York, a city going through a very difficult economic stage, causing hundreds of apartment owners to be unable to make their mortgage payments on time, and therefore, are being exposed to losing their homes through a foreclosure process.

This problem has been appearing in different areas of the New York real estate market, but especially in apartments under the Rent Stabilization system, whose owners have been the most harmed by these new economic conditions affecting the city.

For several years now, there have already been quite a few owners of rent-stabilized properties who have lost their buildings for not fulfilling their mortgage installments. Today, that number is rising quickly and thousands of owners have already received warning letters from the banks, notifying them of a possible foreclosure for failing to meet their obligations.

One of the big difficulties with these properties is that many were built decades ago, and need urgent repairs that are not exactly cheap, which represents a very high cost for the owners at such a delicate moment as the current one.

So why don’t owners fix their properties? Well, since 2019 there’s a law that prevents them from raising rent more than 2% after a renovation, or 20% when the tenant leaves, and according to experts, these rules make the properties lose value. On top of that, interest rates haven’t stopped going up in the last 3 years, which puts even more pressure on those who need money to renovate.

All this leads many owners to choose not to do repairs, because it’s not worth it economically. Instead, they prefer to leave their units empty, wait for the bank to take them and maybe get some money from their sale after the foreclosure.

If this type of property keeps getting sold off in bulk, as expected due to the number of notices sent by lenders, another crisis could be unleashed, but this time on tenants. Thousands of them would be left homeless when the homes are sold, or worse, facing awkward evictions by the new owners.

Available foreclosures:

New York: 362 properties available

Brooklyn: 148 properties available

Bronx: 121 properties available

Queens: 205 properties available

By Elías DaSilva | 28 de Mayo de 2025