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By Alex Backus
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s popularity is rising among city voters even as rents hit a record high, spotlighting the affordability challenges facing his administration as it works to lower housing costs and add affordable units.
Mamdani has a 69 percent favorable rating among New York City voters, up 9 percentage points from last month, according to a Siena Research Institute poll released Wednesday.
The findings come as New York City rents hit a record high, with median asking costs reaching $3,785 in the third quarter, up 4.5 percent from a year earlier and nearly 28 percent above pre-pandemic levels, according to Realtor.com.
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Newsweek has contacted Mamdani’s office for comment.
Mamdani's Popularity in New York
Across New York state, Mamdani has a 47 percent favorable rating and 43 percent unfavorable rating among likely voters. His statewide favorability has changed little since September, when 46 percent viewed him favorably and 44 percent unfavorably.
In New York City, 28 percent of voters view Mamdani unfavorably, down from 31 percent in September. His favorable rating rose from 60 percent to 69 percent over the same period.
Mamdani remains particularly popular among Democrats, with 75 percent viewing him favorably and 16 percent unfavorably, according to the Siena poll.
The Siena study surveyed 807 likely New York state voters from October 19 to 22 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
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New York City Rents Reach Record High
The latest Realtor.com data underscores the scale of the housing affordability challenge facing Mamdani's administration.
New York City’s median asking rent reached a record $3,785 in the third quarter of 2026, up 4.5 percent, or $162, year-over-year, according to the company's report. Asking rents are now 27.5 percent higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Demand for smaller housing units is driving much of the increase. The median asking rent for studio to two-bedroom units rose 7.1 percent year-over-year to $3,662, up 34.1 percent since Realtor.com began tracking New York City rents in 2019. For units with three or more bedrooms, rents increased 2.9 percent year-over-year to $5,089, a 21.9 percent increase since 2019.
“New York City's rent growth is broad-based, but the sharpest increase is in the smaller-unit segment, where affordability-minded renters are competing for limited options,” Jiayi Xu, senior economist at Realtor.com, said.
Rents increased across all four boroughs covered in the report. Manhattan recorded the largest annual increase, with median asking rents rising 8.3 percent to $5,375. Brooklyn rents rose 4.9 percent to $4,197, while Queens reached $3,744, up 3.9 percent. In the Bronx, rents increased 2.7 percent to $3,233. Staten Island was not mentioned in the study.
While rent prices are at historic highs, monthly payments for owning a home in New York City are far more expensive. Realtor.com estimated that the monthly cost of purchasing a median-priced home in New York City reached $10,737 in the third quarter, nearly $7,000 more than the cost of renting. Mortgage rates above 7 percent could nudge that monthly cost even higher.
The increases have outpaced wage growth for some renters. Average hourly earnings for private-sector employees in New York City rose 4.2 percent year-over-year in August, while asking rents for studio to two-bedroom units increased 7.1 percent over the same period, according to the report.
Under the standard 30 percent affordability guideline, which recommends spending no more than 30 percent of gross income on housing, a renter would need to earn $215,000 annually to afford Manhattan’s median asking rent of $5,375.
However, Manhattan’s median household income is substantially lower, at $106,403, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“The cost of buying a typical home is nearly three times the cost of renting, and a mortgage rate above 7% would push that monthly cost even higher,” Xu said. “That combination makes it harder for renters to build savings and move toward homeownership."
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New York Rents Hit Record High Despite Mamdani’s Pledge to Lower Costs
Mamdani's Housing Affordability Plans
Housing affordability has been a central focus of Mamdani’s agenda since he took office on January 1. His administration's approach includes both immediate measures affecting existing tenants and longer-term efforts to increase the city's housing supply.
One of Mamdani's central campaign pledges was to freeze rents for approximately 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, a promise fulfilled in June when the city's Rent Guidelines Board approved a rent freeze.
His broader Block by Block housing plan aims to build 200,000 affordable homes and preserve another 200,000 over 10 years, backed by a proposed $22 billion in housing capital investment over five years.
On October 1, Mamdani announced that 12 neighborhoods that had produced relatively little new affordable housing would be placed under the voter-approved Affordable Housing Fast-Track program, with the initiative scheduled to take effect in January.
Those neighborhoods accounted for 1.1 percent of the city's new affordable housing over the previous five years, averaging 12 affordable homes per district annually.
Mamdani has argued that affordable housing construction must be spread across all five boroughs. However, expanding the housing supply is a longer-term undertaking, meaning the effects of new construction plans may take time to materialize as renters continue to face high prices.
On October 21, Mamdani nominated five housing and planning experts to the City Planning Commission, which plays a key role in land-use decisions that shape where new housing can be built. The nominees must be approved by the City Council.
“Zoning and land use decisions shape whether New Yorkers can afford to live in their neighborhoods and whether our city is built to serve the people who call it home. We need a City Planning Commission that understands the urgency of our housing crisis and the responsibility that comes with shaping our neighborhoods,” the mayor said in a statement.
At the national level, the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady Wednesday as officials weighed what it called "elevated" inflation against continued economic growth. The central bank said it would assess additional economic data before determining its next policy move.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Anna Commander and Edward T. Cummins
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