Buyers are still grabbing apartment buildings in New York City—but some investment plays have become tough to pursue.

The fallout from the toughened New York’s rent stabilization laws enacted 2019 is having an effect on the New York multifamily market, making it tougher for some opportunistic buyers to pursue value-add strategies that they had previously employed in the city.

“We are revaluating every aspect of our pricing,” says Shimon Shkury, president of Ariel Property Advisors. “The big incentive to invest in a unit was to raise the rents over time—that incentive is gone.”

Deals to buy and sell older apartment buildings were much less common in 2019, after the passage of the new law. Many of these older buildings are dominated by apartments covered by the rent stabilization law. However, investors continue to buy apartment properties, especially newer buildings not covered by rent stabilization. The prices investors pay overall for apartments in New York City continue to be high relative to the income produced by the properties.