At a time when New York City officials are looking to build more housing across the boroughs, the number of construction permits filed at City Hall fell sharply in the second quarter, a new report indicates.
Real estate developers filed permits for 387 new buildings in the second quarter this year compared to 424 in the second quarter of 2025, a 9% drop, according to an analysis the Real Estate Board of New York released Monday. The REBNY report, which pulls raw data from the New York City Department of Buildings, tallies the permits submitted for traditional housing developments, residential units inside proposed mixed-use buildings and housing in office-to-residential conversions.
The report offered a mixed outlook for the multifamily market. Developers filed permits to build a total of 8,064 multifamily units, a 52% decrease from the first quarter but a 16% increase year over year.
"The decline in proposed construction this quarter is a warning sign that New York has not yet created the conditions and incentives needed to maintain the momentum of consistently delivering new homes at the scale required to address the city’s housing supply crisis," Basha Gerhards, the group's executive vice president of public policy, said in a statement.
The building permits report arrives as New York City faces a 700,000-unit housing shortage, according to an analysis released Aug. 19 by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The city needs 290,000 homes to meet the current housing demand, 240,000 more to keep up with population growth and another 170,000 for future needs, according to the department's findings.
Need per quarter
REBNY officials said New York City needs to produce 17,500 units per quarter to meet the 700,000-goal in the next decade, but at the current pace, the city would generate less than half of that mark.
Meanwhile, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is working to fulfill a campaign promise to build or preserve 200,000 affordable homes across the city over the next decade. The Mamdani administration said last week that the city financed 12,491 affordable homes in the first six months of 2026.
City officials didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Monday about REBNY's findings.
The REBNY report also listed the largest development for each borough in the second quarter:
- In Manhattan, a 430-unit housing development is under review and slated for West 67th Street.
- In the Bronx, permits were filed for a 156,000-square-foot charter school on Walton Avenue.
- In Queens, a 28-story, 285-unit rental development is under consideration for Jamaica Avenue.
- In Brooklyn, a 14-story, 224-unit affordable housing development is slated for Flatlands Avenue.
- On Staten Island, permits were filed for a five-story, 26-unit housing development on Bay Street.
This story was originally reported by Khristopher J. Brooks for Homes.com News.