Hundreds of housing units are coming to Inspiration Lane in Brooklyn. Just on that street, more units were permitted last year than in Midtown Manhattan. The same goes for Far Rockaway and Bayswater in Queens.
An update to the Department of City Planning’s Housing Database illustrates the pace of housing construction and permitting in the city last year, while underscoring that some areas of the city are barely adding any new housing stock.
The database shows 33,974 new homes were completed in 2024, with the most completed in Brooklyn, at 13,732, followed by 8,061 units in Queens.
Last year saw the most units completed in a single year since 1965, in part because of the frenzy of new building permits issued to developers seeking to qualify for 421a before it expired in 2022, according to City Planning. That urgency dissipated last year as the city issued permits for 15,626 new housing units, the lowest level recorded since 2012 (though just a hair more than the number of permits issued in 2016).
The tools show 19 community districts produced fewer than 100 homes and 13 netted fewer than 200 units.
By the end of 2024, the city had nearly 100,000 new housing units in the pipeline, based on active new building permits. According to City Planning, 80 to 90 percent of permitted projects are completed in four years, but the agency expects “limits on construction sector capacity” and high interest rates to reduce this percentage.
In January, Mayor Eric Adams announced plans to build 100,000 housing units in Manhattan over the next decade. Part of that goal would be accomplished through rezoning Midtown South to allow for the construction of an estimated 9,700 homes.
What we’re thinking about: What real estate-related policies are you expecting to see in the state Senate and Assembly budget resolutions? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: Ads featuring Smokey Bear are the longest-running public service announcements in the U.S., according to NPR. The character, a black bear wearing a park ranger hat, has warned Americans for 80 years: “Only you can prevent forest fires.”
Elsewhere in New York…
— Manorville residents may have started the brush fires on Long Island while trying to make s’mores, police say. Investigators believe the blazes may have started in a backyard on North Cozine Road, where a family attempted to use a piece of cardboard to start a fire, NBC New York reports. The fire in the Westhampton Pines burned through an estimated 600 acres over the weekend. Reports indicate the attempt to make s’mores happened around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday.
— City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams officially launched her mayoral campaign on Saturday. Seven City Council members have endorsed her, along with current and former members of the state legislature, City & State reports.
— Meanwhile, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo now has the backing of another union. Leaders of Local-3 IBEW, which represents nearly 29,000 electrical workers, announced that the union is endorsing Cuomo, after endorsing Mayor Eric Adams in 2021, the New York Daily News reports.
Closing Time
Residential: The priciest residential sale Monday was $18 million for a 5,700-square-foot co-op unit at 88 Central Park West. The Upper West Side unit at The Brentmore was listed by Compass’s Leonard Steinberg, Herve Senequier, Amy Mendizabal, Calli Sarkesh and Niklas Hackstein.
Commercial: The most expensive commercial closing of the day was a 27,300-square-foot office building at 37-02 82nd Street for $11.4 million. The Jackson Heights building has 15 units across three stories.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was a condo unit for $20.8 million at 111 West 57th Street. The Billionaires’ Row condo is 3,800 square feet and is listed by Sotheby’s International Realty.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building application filed was for a 288,250-square-foot, 30-story building at 37 Freeman Street in Brooklyn. This filing is one of three for developer Park Tower Group and their construction of an 11-building residential development in Greenpoint, per Commercial Observer. The applicant of record is Gary Handel of Handel Architects.
— Joseph Jungermann