New Housing Construction in NYC Remains Low in Third Quarter: Report

New housing proposals and construction activity in New York City remained at historically low levels during the third quarter of 2024, according to a new report from the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY).

The report, which examines new filings submitted to the Department of Buildings, found there were 326 new building filings during the third quarter of this year — a 10 percent increase from the previous quarter but a 5 percent decrease year-over-year. The number is also 43 percent below the historical average since 2008, according to REBNY.

“New York City needs a robust construction pipeline to reduce cost pressures on tenants, attract and retain a talented workforce, and support jobs and tax dollars generated through new development,” Zachary Steinberg, REBNY’s senior vice president of policy, said in a statement.

“While we see some improvement from the previous quarter, this report’s findings show we are still significantly trailing historical production averages,” Steinberg added.

REBNY’s report found that it’s not just the third quarter that recorded lagging construction activity for housing. Fewer than 500 new building filings were submitted each quarter over the last two years, except for the fourth quarter of 2023, when 879 new applications were filed — likely driven by an influx in residential permits for one- to three-family homes in Staten Island ahead of Local Law 154.

The law, passed in 2021, prohibits the use of fossil fuels for heating and hot water in new homes. The restrictions kicked in on Jan. 1, 2024, according to the report.

As for residential filings, there were 3,674 multifamily proposals across 82 buildings during the third quarter of this year, an increase from the previous quarter but still lower than the average since 2008.

Of all the boroughs, Queens had the most building filings at 119, REBNY found. Manhattan was the lowest with only 13, but that still was a 44 percent increase from the nine filings in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the Bronx, which has seen a sudden boom in development this year, reported 53 new filings during the third quarter, a 112 percent increase year-over-year, according to REBNY.

The report comes as the city continues to face an affordable housing crisis and as many New York City Council members expressed support this week for Mayor Eric Adams’s City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, a proposal to modernize the city’s zoning code.

City of Yes aims to relax certain zoning rules to increase the construction of more housing by making it easier to complete office-to-residential conversions, removing parking requirements in specific neighborhoods, and allowing more units in affordable housing projects, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

It remains to be seen how next quarter’s new housing and construction numbers will fare if Adams’s City of Yes is approved.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.