ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Matthew Breese: Yeah, that makes sense. And I guess there’s a follow-up there. In the state of New York, they’re kind of slowly passing or looking to pass another kind of piece of legislation on housing with a cap on rents, market rate rents, some flexibility on the rent-regulated stuff. But the big thing is a cap on market rate rents. And I was curious your thoughts on potential impacts from that?

Frank Sorrentino: Yeah, I was having a discussion the other day with a couple of owners that, one of the interesting things about the bill that is probably going to get, I think it has been passed, is that everybody’s unhappy with it. It must be a pretty good bill. I think that, it’s hard to argue against the fact that you can have up to 10% increases and still be within the law. I’m not too upset with that overall. There are very few times in history where you’re entitled to more than a 10% increase. I think that gives a lot of flexibility to, a variety of owners. Now, certainly if you’re way under market in a rent-stabilized scenario or even a rent-regulated scenario, 10% may not be enough. But it’s better than what was on the table before by a significant margin.

I think it helps for the new construction and development that we need in the New York metro market. And I think it gives probably more than three-quarters of the market the amount of relief that they really needed in order to make a lot of these buildings viable.

Matthew Breese: On the rent-regulated side, the ability to adjust?

Frank Sorrentino: Right, on the rent-regulated side. Because before, you had no opportunity to raise rents or very limited opportunities. So now, I put it in the reasonable bucket.

Matthew Breese: Great. That’s all I had. I appreciate all the color. Thank you.

William Burns: You’re welcome.

Frank Sorrentino: Thanks Matt.

Operator: There are no – that concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the conference back over to the management team for closing remarks.

Frank Sorrentino: Well, thank you, everyone, for joining us today. And, of course, thank you for all the great questions. We look forward to speaking with you again during our second quarter call in July. Everyone enjoy.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.