Posted by Leonard Steinberg on March 4th, 2014

If you thought every block in New York was experiencing construction, you are right: the word on HOUSING PERMITS is in and it indicates a return to pre-recessionary construction levels.  The combined number of New York City housing construction permits  jumped 71% last year, even though the total number of units planned still hasn’t reached the pre-downturn levels. Between 2005 and 2008, the Department of Buildings issued an average of 30,000 permits per year: last year ‘only’ 18,095 were issued.

Brooklyn had the most permit numbers with 6,140 units, — almost doubling from 3,353 in 2012— while Manhattan permits doubled to 4,956 units, up from 2,492 in 2012. Queens jumped 107% from 1,529 units in 2012 to 3,161 in 2013, mostly because of two affordable housing towers at Hunters Point South. Staten Island jumped 78% to 1,200 units in 2013 from 673 in 2012. The Bronx rose to 2,638 from 2,552.

Based on my calculations, there is about $35 billion of residential construction in the pipeline for New York City, a daunting figure by any standards, yet divided over 3-4 years its possibly manageable. Some areas are beginning to look a bit frothy though…. That is the figure without commercial or institutional construction. All these new buildings will generate massive real estate taxes, something Mayor De Blasio is probably weighing into his future budget plans: Construction and real estate in general will represent a critically important employer and tax revenue generator for the City. We have officially entered the CONSTRUCTION BOOM YEARS of 2014-2017.