Rising Construction Costs Threaten New Supply of Affordable Housing in New York City

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Acknowledgements

This article is drawn from the report, Raise the Roof, Lower the Costs: Construction Costs and Housing Affordability in New York City, Center for Rethinking Development at the Manhattan Institute, July 2008. In addition to published data sources, the research is based on interviews with over 50 developers, contractors and real estate professionals, who were guaranteed confidentiality where quoted in the report and in this article.

Notes

¹ The American Community Survey (ACS) for New York City 2006, US Bureau of the Census.

² Miller Samuel Inc., Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants, www.millersamuel.com.

³ Brooklyn Year End 2007, The Corcoran Report, www.corcoran.com.

⁴ Examples provided by a financial cost estimator of affordable housing projects.

⁵ The Mayor's New Housing Marketplace Plan: Progress to Date and Prospects for Completion, New York City Independent Budget Office, Fiscal Brief, November 2007. Italics added. IBO's projections for the 2008–2013 period are based on the average per-unit costs of the program that obtained between 2004 and 2007, and on the assumption ‘that construction costs are relatively flat’ in the forecast years.