Can't speak for California but new construction in NYC is NOT genereally rent stabilized. It is rented at market rates, unless the landlord voluntarily chooses to place some of their apartments under rent stabilization in exchange for very generous tax breaks. A friend of mine recently moved into rent-stabilized new construction that she obtained a lease to after winning a housing lottery. The entire development has approximately 1100 units of which just under a third were offered with rent stabilized leases. She pays about $2100 for a 1 br and the equivalent market rate units are around $1000 more. There's quite a bit of ongoing new rental construction in her area, so there's profit to be made.