The New York experience is that while 1M of about 2M rental apartments have laws that influence the rent maximum (rent stabilized), it's subject to distortions

The New York experience is that while 1M of about 2M rental apartments have laws that influence the rent maximum (rent stabilized), it's subject to distortions with regard to two things: the free market rentals, which are as expected quite high, and also, and this seems to be unique to NYC from my conversations with lucky people not renting here, broker fees. Yes, it is quite difficult to even go to visit an apartment rental without a broker, who will charge you 10-15% of the yearly rent as a fee, should you pull the trigger. Rent stabilized units are difficult to find without connections or brokers. Would rents be lower if 45 odd percent of the rental stock of New York City were all free market rentals? Honestly, I'm past ideological certainty at this point, so I honestly don't know. I know plenty of libertarian types with certainty. Anyone interested in the question might be interested in this very recent article from Bloomberg, which talks about the rent control laws in NYC and how a very wealthy landlord faces jail at the moment because he discovered buying out rent controlled apartments in NYC and converting them to market rate, even illegally, made him uber rich. " Out With the Poor, In With the Rich: The Landlord’s Guide to Gentrifying NYC Steve Croman has spent decades exploiting rent-control laws to bring in wealthier tenants. The state attorney general wants to make an example of him." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-12/get-out http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-12/get-out