485-x for NYC Apartment Buildings of 6 to 99 Units

Before you rely on this guide

This guide summarizes the public program pages of HPD and the NYC Comptroller as of October 2026 so that developers and project managers can see how 485-x affects construction planning. We are contractors, not lawyers or tax advisors, and nothing here is legal or tax advice. Eligibility, affordability, wage and filing obligations depend on the facts of each project and on the state law and HPD rules, which can change. Confirm your project's option and obligations with your real estate counsel and with HPD before you commit to a design, a unit count or a construction start date. For the tax treatment of the project on your own returns, a CPA such as Copper River Tax (copperrivertax.com) can advise.

What 485-x is and which buildings qualify

Real Property Tax Law section 485-x was adopted on April 20, 2024, and HPD adopted its implementing rules, Chapter 63 of Title 28 of the Rules of the City of New York, on December 16, 2024. According to HPD's 485-x program page (opens an external site), the benefits are available to new multiple dwellings and eligible conversions, other than hotels, with six or more dwelling units that commence construction after June 15, 2022 and on or before June 15, 2034, and that are completed on or before June 15, 2038.

Requirements depend on building size, location and tenure. The option must be selected in the initial submission of the workbook and application, so the unit count and tenure decisions made at schematic design largely decide which option the project can use.

Option B for 6 to 99 units

Option B is the option most new rental buildings of this size can use. Twenty percent of the units must be Affordable Housing Units at an average of 80 percent of AMI, with no more than three income bands and none above 100 percent of AMI. The benefit runs 35 years, with up to three years of construction-period benefits. Affordable units are permanently affordable and permanently rent stabilized.

Several Option B rules affect the building itself, not only the paperwork.

• Affordable units must share the same common entrances and common areas as the market-rate units and may not be isolated on a specific floor or area of the building.
• If the site contained any dwelling units three years before the Commencement Date, the new building must include at least one Affordable Housing Unit for each unit that was demolished, removed or reconfigured. This matters when a new building replaces one or two existing houses.
• HPD's rules require eligible sites to make reasonable efforts to spend at least 25 percent of total applicable costs on contracts with minority- and women-owned businesses, and an MWBE affidavit is submitted with the application.
• After HPD approves the workbook, the project files a Notice of Intent with HPD Marketing and executes a contract with an approved marketing monitor before the affordable units are leased.

Option C is available for 6 to 10 units outside Manhattan on zoning lots that permit no more than 12,500 square feet of residential floor area. It requires at least half of the units to be rent stabilized, for a 10-year benefit. Under Option C, each demolished dwelling unit must be replaced with a Restricted Unit.

Which wage rules apply below 100 and below 30 units

485-x has two separate wage requirements. The construction wage applies to construction work on eligible sites with 100 or more units. The NYC Comptroller (opens an external site) enforces it and publishes the rates, which rise 2.5 percent each year: $40.00 per hour from July 1, 2024, $41.00 from July 1, 2025 and $42.03 from July 1, 2026, with higher rates for 150 or more units in Zones A and B. The building service prevailing wage applies to building service employees for the benefit period at buildings with 30 or more units.

The all-affordable exception applies where every unit is an Affordable Housing Unit and at least half of those units are restricted to households at or below 90 percent of AMI. On covered sites of 100 or more units, the owner must notify the Comptroller at least three months before the Commencement Date, keep certified payroll and post a worker notice; failing to give notice carries fines of up to $5,000 per day, and starting construction before notice forfeits the benefit. Sites under a project labor agreement that expressly waives these provisions are excluded. Other financing or programs used on the same project can carry their own wage requirements, which counsel should review.

What the registrations show

Early registrations are concentrated well below 100 units. A Commercial Observer analysis (opens an external site) of 312 registrations through April 2026 found that only three projects had 100 or more apartments, that the median project had 24 apartments, and that nearly one-third had no more than 10 units. In May 2025, The Real Deal reported (opens an external site) that all 118 buildings then registered, about 2,600 units, were planned below 100 units.

REBNY's second-quarter 2026 construction pipeline release (opens an external site) counted 19 buildings proposed at exactly 99 units, against 9 projects of 100 or more units in the quarter, and REBNY questioned whether 485-x is supporting enough new housing. For a developer of a six-story building with about 30 units, these figures describe the typical 485-x project: an Option B rental building where construction cost and schedule, rather than a construction wage mandate, drive the budget.

Deadlines a project manager should track

• Registration notice: due no later than six months after the Commencement Date for projects commencing on or after April 20, 2024. HPD may impose a penalty of up to 100 percent of the application filing fee for late registration.
• Comptroller notice: at least three months before the Commencement Date, for covered sites of 100 or more units.
• Workbook: Options A and B submit the 485-x Units Workbook and affidavits within the timeframe in HPD's rules.
• Marketing: Notice of Intent to HPD Marketing and an executed marketing monitoring contract, after workbook approval.
• Application: filed with HPD's Tax Incentives Programs unit within the statutory timeframe, with the MWBE affidavit and a draft restrictive declaration.
• Completion: on or before June 15, 2038, with the construction-period benefit limited to the years stated for the option.

How the Commencement Date and Completion Date are defined for a particular project is a legal question; confirm both with counsel, because several deadlines run from them.

Where 485-x meets the construction plan

485-x decisions show up on site. The unit count sets which wage rules apply and whether a building service wage follows the building after completion. The replacement-unit rule and the common-area rule affect the unit mix and layout. The MWBE effort requirement affects how trade packages are bought out and documented. The construction schedule determines how much of the construction-period benefit the project uses, and how close it runs to the program deadlines.

Other thresholds interact with the same decisions. A seventh story changes the site safety requirements, as our guide to six versus seven stories explains, and our guide to what drives the cost of a six-story building places 485-x among the other cost drivers. As a contracted owner's representative, our project management service keeps the 485-x dates in the project schedule, collects the trade documentation the owner's counsel asks for, and coordinates finish packages with the affordability and layout requirements the design team sets.