New construction in New York City may finally be picking up. A report released last week by the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) found there were 424 new building filings in the second quarter of 2025, a 43 percent increase from the same period last year. Plus, more multifamily housing units are being built compared to the overall average units since 2008, with 6,943 units across 158 proposed buildings between April 1 and June 30. While the new 485-x tax break is spurring development, most new residential projects have fewer than 100 units, likely so developers avoid the state’s $40 hourly wage requirement for larger buildings.
In the second quarter of this year, there were 424 new building filings, a 28 percent increase from the first quarter and a 43 percent jump year-over-year. However, the total new building filings are still 25 percent below the historical average since 2008.
In this quarter, there were 6,943 proposed multiple dwelling units across 158 proposed buildings, just a 1 percent increase from last quarter but a 58 percent jump from the overall average in units since 2008.
But as REBNY notes, the proposed apartments still fall short of Mayor Eric Adams’ “moonshot” goal of building 500,000 new homes over the next decade. To meet that goal, 12,500 units need to be built per quarter.
One issue is that most of the projects are not large enough. Of the quarter’s 158 proposed new buildings with multiple units, 109 buildings had under 50 units, 41 buildings had between 50 and 99 units, four had between 100 and 149 units, and four had 150 or more units.
The Affordable Neighborhoods for New Yorkers program, or 485-x, was passed by the state in 2024 and launched this year as a replacement to the 421-a incentive, which expired in 2022, to spur affordable housing.
Under the new program, all projects with more than 99 units require a $40 minimum hourly wage for workers.
According to the report, there have been 28 99-unit projects over the last four quarters, more than double the 13 99-unit projects filed between 2008 and the passage of 485-x in 2024.
Plus, the number of 50 to 99-unit filings in Q2 2025 was 116 percent above the average since 2008.
“An upward trend in overall construction activity is a welcome finding for New York City’s economy, but concerns remain when it comes to the continued lack of larger proposed multifamily development,” Zachary Steinberg, senior vice president of policy at REBNY, said.
“Large multifamily projects are essential to solving the city’s housing crisis and policymakers need to focus on addressing this growing challenge with viable solutions.”
The city’s Housing and Preservation Department believes the number of projects using 485-x will increase over time. HPD Acting Commissioner Ahmed Tigani told City & State that developers are still analyzing the program to learn how “they can maximize the benefits.”
”We believe that data is trending in the right direction,” Tigani said. “But especially for your larger projects, your more complicated projects where people are reassessing both the lending options and market pieces of this – labor costs, supply costs – all of this is still being calculated.”
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