About 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan, the city of New Rochelle, NY—home to roughly 85,000 residents—has quietly rewritten the housing playbook, making it a rare example of a suburb where added supply has actually stabilized and even reduced rents. While the broader New York metro and much of the nation grapple with surging rent inflation, New Rochelle has kept rent growth to 1.6% since 2020, and rents have declined slightly from 2020 to 2023.
According to The Wall Street Journal, New Rochelle added 4,500 new housing units over the past decade, with another 6,500 in the pipeline—a 37% expansion in the city’s housing stock. This surge stands in stark contrast to many U.S. cities, where supply hasn’t kept pace with demand.
That growth isn’t just in numbers. A range of developers, anchored by RXR as master developer, have led the charge on large projects like One Clinton Park, ThreeHThirty3, and Encore, part of a $2.5 billion redevelopment effort.
City officials adopted a five-part framework starting in 2015 that paved the way for this transformation:
A form-based zoning code that specifies building size and design but allows flexibility in use. A single, generic environmental review for an entire redevelopment zone, reducing per-project red tape. A master agreement with a lead developer (RXR) managing multiple publicly owned sites. Tax and financial incentives calibrated to attract investment while protecting taxpayers.
A thorough fiscal impact analysis to address concerns around schools and municipal services.
New Rochelle officials guarantee a 90-day approval timeline for qualifying residential projects—far quicker than in New York City or neighboring suburbs.
Evidence shows these policies paid off. According to Pew Charitable Trusts, from 2017–2021, New Rochelle added housing over twice as fast as the U.S. average. Meanwhile, rents rose just 7% from 2017 to 2023, compared to 31% nationally.
Apartment List data reinforces that trend: By September 2024, New Rochelle’s median rent had fallen 3% year-over-year and stood 7.2% below the broader New York metro average.
Developers must set aside 10% of units as affordable housing, with identical features to market-rate units—an effort to promote equity and inclusion.
In highrise projects like Highgarden Tower, fully affordable buildings offer two-bedrooms for $1,800–$2,500/month, versus market rents of $4,100+ per two-bedroom. This mix has spurred transit-oriented downtown growth and pulled price pressure off older housing.
Local officials also reinvest developer fee revenues into infrastructure, food services, and down payment assistance programs to support longtime residents.
New luxury towers like Encore, which opened in late 2023, reached 95% leased by April 2025 with studio rents starting around $2,070/month, one-bedrooms at $2,615, and two-bedrooms at $4,350. These prices remain below many Manhattan equivalents and attractive for professionals pricing out of NYC.
Despite success, not everyone is thrilled. Longtime residents have voiced concerns about construction noise, loss of parking, and a changing community fabric. A local resident described new arrivals as “sleepers”—those who live but don’t fully participate in downtown life.
Investor sentiment is cautious too: At recent real estate panels, multiple brokers warned that thousands of units flooding the local market could pressure rents in the coming years—though most of that pipeline is still planned or under construction.
New Rochelle’s model—streamlining environmental reviews, standard zoning, developer partnerships, and mixed-income mandates—is drawing attention nationwide. States such as California and Oregon, and even proposals in Washington, D.C., are exploring similar federal incentives and review reforms to ease regional housing shortages.
By pushing thousands of new apartments through with predictability and speed, while preserving affordability and reinvesting in services, New Rochelle has displayed a rare suburban success story in containing rents. For city and state policymakers nationwide wrestling with affordability crises, it’s a living blueprint for how development can be part of the fix—not the problem.