Huge number of listed homes in NYC are near a residential construction sites

This summer season likely means navigating a construction site or two.

Four out of every 10 New York City homes listed for sale or rent are within two blocks of a residential construction site, according to June data gathered by listing platform Localize.city.

Localize.city found that nearly 40 percent of all listed residences in New York City are fewer than 525 feet – one or two blocks, about a tenth of mile – from a site where new residential units are under construction, the New York Times reported. So are almost 70 percent of listed homes built since 2016.

The bulk of residential construction work in New York City has moved from Manhattan to previously overlooked areas in Brooklyn and Queens.

Analysis by Localize.city shows that Brooklyn has seven of the 10 New York City neighborhoods with the highest percentage of listings near residential construction sites, followed by Queens with two, and Manhattan with one.

Top-ranked East Williamsburg in Brooklyn had the biggest share of listings near construction at 34 percent. Second-ranked Bedford-Stuyvesant had 27 percent, followed by Hudson Yards with 26 percent.

Some of the hottest spots for residential construction are in northern Brooklyn and western Queens, where rezoning prior to the Great Recession enlarged the allowable scale of residential developments.

Residential construction zones have popped up not only along major thoroughfares but also on side streets in north and central Brooklyn, where taller apartment buildings are replacing some houses and duplexes and rising between others.

Real estate consulting firm Nancy Packes Data Services reported that 187 residential developments were under construction in Bushwick, the largest number in Brooklyn.

Judy Spence, who bought a home in East Flatbush in 1973, said subsequent residential development has “devastated” her block: Her home and her neighbor’s home have a six-story condominium on one side and a seven-story condo on the other, putting a partial but permanent shadow on her veranda and front yard.

Her neighborhood on Lenox Road, settled a generation ago by Caribbean home buyers, has attracted developers seeking retirees willing to sell their homes.

One such home sale often will trigger others in a domino-style impact, said Allyson Martinez, a chair of the land-use committee for Community Board 17 in Brooklyn, who expressed concern “for seniors who are being harassed and told to sell their homes.” [NYT] – Mike Seemuth