New York’s Stalled Residential Construction

Manhattan functions like a medieval city where the well-to-do lived at night behind the city walls, and the poor had to live outside the gate.

More than half of New Yorkers have some or all of their rent or purchase price paid for by someone else--government subsidized housing to promote social engineering, parental subsidies, and rent control. Then there are the foreigners purchasing and then leaving vacant what they call a 'safe deposit box.' Result: a highly politicized and distorted market for real estate. Well, it's New York City after all.

NYC "developers" make messes wherever they go.

The horrendous Vornado Realty Trust tore down three wonderful, beautiful, and USEFUL buildings on West 57th Street to construct an obscene tower filled with international money laundering opportunities. Then that criminal racked soon imploded. And now there is a hole in the ground blighting an entire block. For how long? Years? Shame on the city and particularly the landmarks commission for permitting this stupidity.

The head of Vornado (I call it Tornado - a wide path of destruction wherever it lands), the infamous Steven Roth, is an economic advisor to Donald Trump's Presidential Campaign. Of course!

I lived in 428 East 58th Street for 10 years. During the last few years I was there the then-landlord harrassed the tenants in all three of the buildings mentioned so that he could do a project like the one mentioned here. He tried to evict me fraudulently and failed. Once he saw he could not force me out, I negotiated a buyout with him and used the money to finance a downpayment on a condo in another neighborhood. The remaining holdout tenants hired my lawyer to help mount a class -action suit against the landlord for harassment and denial of basic services.
Now I need to mention that this all happened in 1992. So in 24 years, the dream of replacing our three little tenements with a tower STILL has not materialized!

it's not the unions, for those who think it is. union givebacks and PLA agreements were negotiated during the 2008-2010 downturn when developers and general contractors were pleading poverty. Since then prices have risen double, quadruple, or 10X (35 story buildings used to sell out for $100M, now 60-90 story buildings sell for $25M-$100M per floor - do the math). Look at the number of general contractor minions walking around doing nothing most of the day. Meanwhile non-union labor comes in and begins to start demanding better wages, better benefits, and union-like protections. Blame the developers, owners, and general contractors. Blame the mayors who have a hand in all of this.

How sad that NYC has lost its character with the loss of the middle class. I remember when everyone made fun and hated the middle class. Be careful what you wish for. Now, when I go to NYC I miss the city I used to live in. I miss the little shops and boutiques and the interesting characters and artists that walked the streets. Now NYC belongs to the world 1% and the tourists. Developers with no culture have wrecked the city with their excavations for gold.

Condo developers are to Manhattan what fracking drillers are the farms above the Marcellus Shale formation. They turn a quick, massive profit and leave behind an unrecognizable, blighted landscape that normal people can't live in.

Hard to believe that the Times is finally reporting this slowdown in real estate sales.May I suggest that the writer now do a piece on the number of condos and coops that are renting apartments because there are not enough wealthy people to buy the large supply.

Most if not all these projects are ill conceived - pipe dreams if you will. Note how all are in a state of dispute or failed because of expired tax subsidies.

When a developer says an area will get a "shot in the arm", they really mean a dagger to the heart.

How intelligent is it to approve 4,100 units in an Astoria neighborhood where there is no nearby subway, and when the nearest subway is already packed to the gills?

But I guess for his desire to create more affordable housing, Mayor de Blasio will approve of anything.

Essentially most of these developers came too late to the ultra-rich's race to launder money into real estate, so now are relying on taxpayers to foot the bill through abatements in order to justify building at all? If they can't get a profitable building erected in New York, they are probably in the wrong line of work.

Just because they build it, doesn't mean 'they' will come. People's incomes have been flat for too long and the amenity-stuffed money laundering machines are not something most of us can afford anyway.

"In some ways, the 113-unit project was at a disadvantage from the start. While the building is just a block from 57th Street, which has become known as Billionaires’ Row for its seven- and eight-figure apartments, the area around the building is farther east, much quieter and lacking in showy shops."

Seriously? These developers didn't get the difference 57th and 7th, a block from Central Park, and 58th between 1st and Sutton? Hire a real estate broker next time, it's a lot cheaper!

It's not surprising that the shady real estate business is going strong. Raise a of of money the declare bankruptcy - a Trump model that leaves investors high and dry. How about using these vacant sights for affordable housing - the average American can afford only one $10M condo.

The deadly combination of Democrats and unions will kill affordable housing in the City.

why don't we start talking about building out different cities other than NYC? that would solve many problems, prices would go down in the boros and prices would go up in other places. there are too many people trying to squeeze into the city as it is. we're spending billions on new tunnels to cram more people into the city and celebrate a few hard won feet of grass wrenched away from developers at horrific cost. look at the struggle in williamsburg to get the promised Bushwick inlet park made into a park as promised....just a though

This type of article, with this exact headline, can be written every quarter. There is no real "news" here, just a list of various sites going through the same issues that other various sites go through during every cycle. This is the best real estate market in the world, because NYC continues to be a magnet for young people from all over the world coming here for a variety of reasons and careers, and the companies that follow and lead them here. Healthy growth and new construction will continue, and prices for land will adjust accordingly...

Article forgot to mention how many buildings are currently under construction, and gave no statistics with respect to building permits year over year, price increase or decrease, rental rates increase or decrease. So while a few projects have hit snags, is that different from any other year. There are times in real estate construction when construction slows, however if the growth was compared over a two year or three year period, there was little to no marginal change in construction. No mention was made of the cost of construction, so that the reader would have an idea of the break-even that a developer would need for break even. Need a few more discussion points to get a full understanding of the current market place.

I hope 421a abatements NEVER get reinstated.

Developers depend on 421a abatements the way an addict depends on getting a fix.

Let's build housing for real New Yorkers - affordable housing at sane prices, and not just a small percentage of apartments in a big development. We already have enough horrible out-of-context buildings - most of them glass condos - in this city.

That's nice that in this world there are people out there that can afford TEN MILLION DOLLAR residences. I think about that when I see people sleeping on the streets and meet people that cannot afford decent health insurance. Beautiful.

boom and bust, boom and bust ... but too far east or west seems to be a problem. If you have to depend on a cross town bus that goes at one mile an hour, or your feet, that's going to be a problem. too far north or south (aka Wall Street or 125th street) is also a problem. there's no light, or air on wall street or infrastructure so it's never taken off other than as a dorm for just out of college apartment seekers. Nothing really new under the sun.

rumblings of a bust in the bubble ??