NYT Report: Are NYC's luxury condos contributing to housing shortage?

New York City's skyline is changing. A city often known for its towering luxury apartments has a less visible transformation occurring behind its iconic facades. A new report by The New York Times unravels how apartment combinations and the conversion of multi-unit buildings into single-family homes have resulted in the loss of over 100,000 apartments since 1950.

Interestingly, apartment combinations has spiked since the 1990s, primarily in affluent areas like the Upper East Side, West Village, and Park Slope and are precisely the neighborhoods that, given their proximity to transit and jobs, should be welcoming new homes. However, despite the overall growth in apartment numbers over the decades, new construction hasn't matched the surge in population and housing demand.

Adam Brodheim, the researcher behind this analysis, emphasizes that his intention isn't to criticize those seeking more extensive living spaces. Instead, he wishes to highlight the ripple effect of such actions on the city's housing crisis. As per Brodheim, many buildings, constructed over a century ago as single-family homes and later divided into multiple units, have reverted to their original state. For instance, the rowhouses on West 88th Street have seen a significant decline in units over the past few decades.

The New York Times quotes Shields, who underscored the general desire for larger homes with a neighborhood feel, even if the building originally housed multiple families. Similarly, another narrative surrounds 12 East 72nd Street. Two decades ago, it comprised 23 apartments. However, after its purchase by Steve Croman in 2002, the entire building was transformed into a single-family residence.

Such trends contribute to the shortage of new housing in several neighborhoods, aggravating the housing affordability issue. Data indicates that while the Upper East Side added 3,000 housing units between 2010 and 2021, it lost around 3,000 due to apartment consolidations and demolitions.

Despite these challenges, Brodheim believes that the real issue lies in the city's policies. If adequate new housing was being constructed, apartment combinations wouldn't pose such a significant problem.

Concluding on a different note, while the city's affluence grows, it remains uncertain if merging apartments will always yield good returns. Some real estate experts argue that such renovations only make economic sense if the resulting homes can fetch a high price.

(Disclaimer: Several parts of the text in this article were generated with the help of an AI tool.)

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.