NYC Rent-Stabilized Lending Trends, 2019–2025

For decades, New York City’s rent-stabilized housing market was financed by a small club of lenders who understood the regulatory complexity. Signature Bank, NYCB/Flagstar, and a handful of community banks dominated the space. Then, in March 2023, Signature Bank failed—and the market structure changed overnight.

Using NYC ACRIS mortgage records matched against Atrium’s entity resolution system, we analyzed every mortgage origination on rent-stabilized buildings from 2019 through 2025. The results reveal a market in structural transition: big banks are filling the void, community banks have retreated, and the 2025 “recovery” is driven almost entirely by a handful of large refinancings.

The Void Left by Signature Bank

Signature Bank was the third-largest lender on rent-stabilized buildings, originating $7.4 billion from 2019 through its failure in March 2023. Combined with NYCB/Flagstar’s retreat (which accelerated through 2024 as the bank dealt with its own credit crisis), the market lost billions in annual lending capacity.

The market bottomed in 2023 at just $7.2 billion—a 74% decline from 2019. Deal count fell even more sharply, from 3,746 to 1,236—a 67% drop.

Big Banks Fill the Gap

The defining trend of the post-2023 market is the rise of big banks. JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank, and Goldman Sachs collectively increased their share of rent-stabilized originations from 20% in 2019 to 41% in 2025.

This isn’t because big banks became more active—their absolute volumes declined too—but because regional and community banks pulled back even harder.

The 2025 “Recovery”: Driven by Mega-Refinancings

At first glance, 2025 looks like a recovery story: volume jumped to $11.3 billion, up from $4.7 billion in 2024. But dig into the numbers and the recovery is almost entirely driven by a handful of very large refinancings—not new acquisition lending.

These two deals alone account for nearly $3.7 billion. Strip them out and 2025 looks much more like 2024. Every single top-10 deal in 2025 is a refinancing, not a new purchase.

Largest Originations of 2025

Ranked by rent-stabilized-weighted loan amount. Click any column header to sort.

Case Study: Flagstar’s Retreat from Rent-Regulated Lending

No lender illustrates the structural shift better than Flagstar Bank (formerly NYCB). At its peak, Flagstar originated nearly $3.9 billion annually on rent-stabilized properties. Today, that number is $59 million—a 98% decline.

98.3% of Flagstar’s rent-stabilized lending went to traditional pre-1974 rent-regulated buildings, not 421-a new construction. From 2023 onward, zero of their originations were on 421-a properties.

The Broadway Realty Prediction We Got Wrong

In our January 2026 analysis of the Pinnacle Group/Broadway Realty portfolio sale, we made an explicit prediction:

We expected Flagstar to exit entirely. Our December analysis assumed a buyer like Summit would bring fresh capital and a new lender, allowing Flagstar to wash its hands of the portfolio. That didn’t happen. Flagstar is still the lender.

Summit Properties closed its $451 million acquisition at $88,000 per door. Flagstar took a $225 million haircut on its original loan—then had to provide $338.5 million in acquisition financing because no other bank would underwrite the deal.

Webster Bank: Sterling’s Legacy Lives On

Webster Bank’s rent-stabilized activity tells a story of acquisition and continuity. Webster acquired Sterling National Bank in early 2022, inheriting Sterling’s substantial RS lending book. Combined, Webster/Sterling has originated $1.9 billion across rent-stabilized properties since 2019.

After normalizing post-merger, Webster settled to roughly $82 million across 17 deals in 2024. In 2025, volume rebounded to about $168 million across 12 loans—suggesting Webster is increasing its RS appetite rather than pulling back. Unlike Flagstar, Webster continues to actively lend on traditional rent-stabilized buildings.

Traditional RS vs. New Construction

A 421-a building like 329 Broadway in Williamsburg—a brand-new luxury apartment with temporary rent regulation—carries very different risk than a pre-1974 walk-up in the Bronx with permanent HSTPA restrictions.