Annual Report 2008

Housing

Perhaps nowhere has development been more transformative than in the area of housing. Thanks to a prosperous, safer and more livable City, and through a series of enlightened rezoning initiatives, New York City's residential sector has exploded. Vibrant new communities have sprouted up throughout the five boroughs, with an emphasis on density around transit hubs and reclaimed waterfronts. Historic office properties, especially in Lower Manhattan, have been converted into high-end residences and a wave of glass-clad condos and rentals are rising seemingly everywhere.

After decades in which New York struggled to produce 10,000 new units annually, three times that many are being developed each year. While recent economic turmoil may curtail some projects, the demand for housing is unlikely to subside in the long-term. It is vital that New York continue its focus on developing new units at all income levels in order to meet a projected population increase of more than a million people in the coming decades.