Multifamily marketing for New York lease-ups under 485-x

A New York lease-up now runs on two clocks, your own campaign for market-rate units and the city lottery for the affordable share, and we plan both from the first week.

Book a strategy callRun the leasing math

Under 485-x, rentals of 100 units or more set aside 25% of homes at a weighted average of 80% of area median income, and those homes are leased through Housing Connect. Lottery units can stay empty for months while applicants are verified, so the market-rate campaign has to bring in the early rent. Our lease-up calculator will test your own figures.

Book a strategy callRun the leasing math
485-x buildingsHousing Connect timing planned inMarket-rate campaignsPaid media from $3,500 a month

For New York rental developers and owners, from the TERAMOK lease-up team. Lottery rules confirmed 3 October 2026.

Lifestyle scene in a MIA Developments residence with a pool view, photographed by TERAMOK

Weekly lease targets for a New York building

The default 58 weeks reflects the 13.5 months that lottery buildings averaged to reach full occupancy in a 2023 Citizens Housing and Planning Council analysis, cited by NYU's Furman Center in 2026. Replace every input with your pro forma.

3.3signed leases needed every week
13tours a week at that close rate
44qualified leads a week to fill those tours

The lead-to-tour and tour-to-lease rates are our planning assumptions, not New York benchmarks. Enter market-rate units only when the affordable share is filled through the lottery.

Where New York rents stood in August 2026

Market-rate pricing sets the ceiling for your campaign. Tap a row for the read we would take into a media plan.

Brick Underground's summary of the Miller Samuel rental report with Corcoran data, 10 September 2026. Queens was not covered in that summary.

Yiannis (John) Deves, Partner and COO of TERAMOK
Yiannis (John) DevesPartner and COO

Let the market-rate units carry the first months

In a 485-x building the affordable share leases on the city's timetable, not yours. HPD reported a median of 142 days to approve a lottery applicant in fiscal 2025.

So I model early revenue from the market-rate units alone and put the lottery units on their own line, with their own ramp. Lenders read that plan more kindly than one that assumes every door opens at once.

Managing your paid media with us begins at $3,500 monthly, and every dollar of spend runs through accounts you own. Reviews at day 30, 60 and 90 let you drop a channel that is not filling tours.

Leasing results from other cities

TERAMOK-reported figures from Chicago and Miami. We have not yet run a New York lease-up, and we will not pretend otherwise.

Chicago · pre-lease brand
Twelve months of lease-up marketing
152K
active users over the year, an 880.7% rise
Key events logged107K +834.5%
Miami · 44-unit development
July 2026, the first 28 days
104
inquiries on a media spend near $1,000
Rated warm after screening41 near $24 apiece
Site audience growth+54.3% to 5.5K users

Screenshots and dates for both sit on the results page.

New York rental owners ask

HPD reported a median of 142 days to approve an applicant in fiscal 2025, down from more than 190 days in 2023 and 2024. From 1 September 2026, HPD cut the minimum lottery advertising period to 21 calendar days, so the front end is shorter but verification still takes months.

HPD's handbook says the official marketing period should typically open roughly half a year ahead of the first expected move-in. We schedule the market-rate campaign to peak around the same window.

They are leased through Housing Connect by a marketing agent under HPD rules, including a community preference that fills 20% of units with local applicants, falling to 15% from 2029. We focus on the market-rate units and the building's brand.

Projects of 6 to 99 units set aside 20% at a weighted average of 80% of area median income. Those of 100 or more set aside 25% at the same average. Very large projects of 150 or more in Zones A and B set aside 25% at 60% of AMI.

Budget for paid media management (we start at $3,500 per month), social (from $3,500 per month) and the media itself, which you pay directly. A complete launch with website and film sits inside our retainer band of $8,000 up to $25,000 per month. Run your numbers in the calculator.

Sources

  1. NYU Furman Center, report on how the Housing Connect lottery works, April 2026
  2. NYC HPD and HDC, marketing handbook addendum on the shortened marketing period, effective 1 September 2026
  3. Nixon Peabody, guide to the 485-x program for developers, January 2025
  4. Brick Underground, Manhattan and Brooklyn rental market report for August 2026

Plan both lease-up clocks before you open

Share your unit mix, the 485-x tier and the opening date. We will map the market-rate campaign against the lottery timeline.

Book a call

+1 (312) 838-1826 · info@teramok.us