Historic buildings on Greene Street in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan.
Building bigger
Manhattan construction spending trends up
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
A new report found that
despite a decrease in
new projects due to the
pandemic, construction activity
in Manhattan is still seeing
an upward trend.
The report, released by the
New York Building Congress,
takes a look at Manhattan’s
construction spending and
activity from 2018 to 2021,
highlighting the economic impact
that the building industry
has had on New York City’s
pandemic recovery. Manhattan’s
construction starts are
valued at $7 billion, a $1 billion
increase since 2020. Current
projects in the pre-design,
design and bidding phases are
valued at $29.5 billion.
According to the report’s
fi ndings, from 2018 through
the third quarter 2021, construction
spending in Manhattan
was valued at $27.5
billion across 12,300 residential,
commercial and
REAL ESTATE
infrastructure projects.
“New York City’s building
industry, which employs hundreds
of thousands of people,
showed its true strength and
resiliency over the last two
years, and we aren’t slowing
down in 2022,”said Carlo
A. Scissura, President and
CEO of the New York Building
Congress.“We’ve seen the
way the industry kickstarts
economic growth and puts
New York City on pace for an
equitable and robust recovery
in the face of extreme hardship.
We are ready to bring the
nearly 2 million New Yorkers
in Manhattan the high-quality
infrastructure, housing and
public space they deserve.”
In 2020, construction starts
began to double in June following
an 11-week pause on
non-essential activity. Despite
the increase, the Building
Congress showed a downward
trend in construction in Manhattan
during the fi rst seven
months of 2020, dropping to
Report: Roommate
rents fell to lowest
prices in last six years
DEBERARR PHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
$3.75 billion, which is 37%
fewer projects than the same
time period the year before.
Manhattan’s highest values
were in non-residential commercial
and institutional construction,
making up 65% of the
borough’s total project value.
Non-residential project spending
was valued at $17.8 billion
through September 2021.
The report found that Manhattan
currently represents
15% of recent affordable housing
construction in the entire
city. From 2018 to September
2021, construction began on
2,980 new affordable housing
units and 19,520 preserved
units in Manhattan.
In terms of infrastructure,
some of the highest-value projects
were found in Manhattan
since 2018. Infrastructure
construction spending valued
at $2.9 million in 2021, and
improvements made to the
Brooklyn, George Washington
and Queensboro bridges
totaled $100 million each.
BY AIDAN SEIDEN
As we continue living in
the “post-pandemic”
world, leaving behind
the attractively low rent prices
of 2021 and transitioning
back into the world where
the median asking rent for
an apartment in Downtown
Manhattan is $4,200, living
with a roommate might be
the most effi cient way to live
in New York City without
actually breaking the bank.
According to a recent
study published by the roommate
matching website SpareRoom,
the average New
York City roommate rent in
2021 was $1,189, a considerable
drop of almost 8%
compared to 2019 (prepandemic)
when it was $1,290.
According to the data
team, the city hasn’t seen
rents this low since 2015,
when they were $1,179.
“We knew the pandemic
had a dramatic impact on
New York, but we were
shocked to see just how far
rents fell,” said SpareRoom
Director, Matt Hutchinson
Following the data collection,
SpareRoom analysts
separated the results
into borough and neighborhood—
where they found
that roommate rent dropped
in almost every part of the
city, except for The Bronx,
NYC’s historically cheapest
borough (aside from Staten
Island, which has very
few roommates, according
to SpareRoom).
In 2021 the roommate rent
in The Bronx averaged $942,
an increase of about 2.73%
since 2019. Conversely,
Manhattan, the most expensive
borough in NYC, experienced
the steepest drop in
roommate rent price in 2021,
averaging about $1,480, a
-8.81% fall since 2019.
Between the two polarizing
boroughs sat Queens, with an
average roommate rent price
of $1,004, a -3.55% drop
since 2019, Brooklyn with
$1,119 and a drop of -5.09%,
and Staten Island with an average
roommate rent of $856,
seeing a drop of about -7.06%
since 2019.
Looking a bit closer, SpareRoom
discovered that a large
majority of the neighborhoods
that featured greater amounts
of roommates, saw rent drops
in the last two years, with
the sharpest declines coming
from some of the most
expensive neighborhoods.
The top fi ve included:
Long Island City,
the West Village, Hell’s
Kitchen, Chelsea, and the
Financial District.
For those roommates on
the hunt for cheap apartments,
take advantage of
the low prices while you still
can, because according to
SpareRoom, roommate rent
is on the rebound and will
soon return to its previous
price point.
“Things are starting to
turn around now,” said
Hutchinson. “Rents began to
climb again after a surge in
demand towards the end of
2021, as people started to return
to work and restrictions
eased. Although Omicron
has slowed momentum, early
data suggests New York is
starting to regain its appeal.”
“Time will tell how long it
takes to regain its pre-pandemic
status, but the signs
are there that things are
turning around,” he said.
6 February 3, 2022 Schneps Media