NYC housing vacancy drops to lowest level in over 50 years

NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) – New York City’s housing availability hit lows unseen in over 50 years, according to a government report released Friday. 

A 2023 report from the city’s Housing Preservation and Development department found that housing vacancy dropped to 1.4 percent across the city – the lowest it's been since 1968. 

The city’s vacancy rate “nosedived” over just two years, and in 2023, only around 33,000 housing units were available for rent, city officials said. 

But demand remained high and despite the city seeing over 60,000 new housing units between 2021 and 2023, empty units were largely filled, the report found.

“The data is clear: the demand to live in our city is far outpacing our ability to build housing. New Yorkers need our help, and they need it now,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

The numbers were more bleak for lower-cost housing options. Apartments renting for over $2,400 per month were far more available than cheaper apartments, according to the report. 

For apartments ranging between $1,100 and $1,649 per month, the vacancy rate dropped to under one percent, according to the report. Market rate rentals were far more available than rent stabilized units and public housing. 

This reality puts the onus on government officials to facilitate rent-stabilized developments and ensure tenant protections, said advocates with Housing Justice For All. 

“With so few apartments available, tenants are being price gouged by landlords taking advantage of their desperation,” advocates said. “Strengthening and expanding rent stabilization – as well as passing universal Good Cause Evictions – is the best way to combat rampant price gouging and evictions."

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday celebrated the groundbreaking of two of 18 housing developments underway in Gowanus, years after the City Council cleared a massive rezoning plan for the neighborhood. 

The projects will bring 5,300 new units – about 1,400 of which will be affordable units – to the neighborhood, bringing it “back to life like Lazarus brought back from the dead,” Hochul said. 

“Stark does not begin to describe that scenario for someone looking for a home here in the City of New York. It's not acceptable,” Hochul said at the groundbreaking Friday. “The status quo is not acceptable. We don't have a housing shortage at all, we have a housing crisis on steroids.”