Ever feel like the Big Apple is one big construction site? A new report has found that it’s not in the heads of New Yorkers — the city actually is being built up at a record-breaking level.
According to newly published findings by apartment search website RentCafe, new construction is set to reach a historic national high this year, and the New York metro area is leading the country for the third consecutive year in terms of new apartments set to be completed in 2024.
By the end of December, RentCafe found, developers across the country are set to have finished an unprecedented 518,108 rental units, 9% more than were completed in 2023, and a whopping 30% more than were completed in 2022.
“What’s more, 2024 is the first year in the history of US apartment construction in which the number of completions will surpass the 500,000-unit threshold,” the report authors noted, adding that “Looking ahead, 2 million apartments are set to come online by 2028, despite uncertainties in most markets that are causing fewer new projects to start. Furthermore, about 47% of the 369 metros analyzed are likely to build more in the next five years than they did from 2019 to 2023.”
Of those roughly 518,000 units, almost 33,000 are in New York. A larger portion — 9,379 apartments — are in Brooklyn than any other borough, followed at a significant distance by Manhattan’s 2,979 units. In Queens, a comparatively few 1,232 units are anticipated to open this year.
Gotham is expected to maintain the crown of most development in the years to come, with more than 150,000 apartments on track to be finished by 2028, at which point “a slowdown is expected.”
Phoenix, Arizona and Raleigh, North Carolina came in second and third place after New York in terms of apartment growth, while certain formerly heavy builder cities — including Dallas and Austin — were projected to seriously slow their construction pace in the years to come compared to the previous five.