NYC Construction Dashboard

Job Type: Top 10 Community Districts (2020)

The greatest number of New Building permits and Demolition permits were issued in CD503 in Staten Island, whereas CD303 in Brooklyn had the most A1 permits. The borough of Manhattan had the greatest number of A2 and A3 permits issued overall.

Permits Time Series (2000 - 2020)

The greatest year-to-year increase in total number of permits issued occurred from 2003 to 2004 where New Building permits increased by 20% and Demolitions increased by 27%. This upward surge continued through 2005, but was followed by a six year period of decline. However, since 2013, New Building and Demolition permits have again steadily increased. Since 2018 New Building permits have been on the decline while Demolition permits increased by 1% in 2019 from the previous year. In 2020 New Building permits decreased by 17% and Demolition permits decreased by 33% from 2019.

Active NB & A1 (2000 - 2020) Square Feet | Proposed Dwelling Units

In 2009 there was a 12% reduction in New Building square footage from the previous year. The 2008 economic crisis can be attributed toward this decline in New Building construction. In 2015 there was a 44% increase in New Building square footage from the previous year. This spike can be attributed to the 2015 expiration of a tax benefit (421-a) for new construction. The effects of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 saw overall decreases in NB/A1 square footage and proposed dwelling units. 2020 had a reduction of 10% in New Building square footage and a 9% reduction in New Building proposed dwelling units from the previous year. There was a 6% reduction in Alt1 square footage and 7% reduction in Alt1 proposed dwelling units in 2020 from the previous year.

Permit Types by Community District (2020)

2020 Construction Permit Activity

While there was a decline in construction activity in 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the overall trends remain similar to past years. The majority of New Building (NB) and Demolition (DM) permits were issued in Brooklyn and Queens. However, smaller job types such as Alteration Types 2 (ALT2) and 3 (ALT3) were more prevalent in Manhattan. The permitting data presented in this report are aggregated by both initial and renewed permits.

New Building (NB): Brooklyn had the most NB permits issued in 2020 (2,115 total, 32% citywide). The Community District with the greatest number of NB permits issued in 2020 was CD503 in Staten Island (467 total, 7% citywide).
ALT1: Brooklyn had the greatest number of ALT1 permits issued in 2020 (2,720 total, 38% citywide). CD303 in Brooklyn had 336 ALT1 permits issued in 2020, 5% of the citywide total.
ALT2: Manhattan had the greatest number of ALT2 permits in 2020 (50,006 total, 45% citywide). The Community District with the most ALT2 permits in 2020 was CD105 in Manhattan (11,950 total, 9% citywide).
ALT3: Manhattan had the greatest number of ALT3 permits in 2020 (2,628 total, 43% citywide). The Community District with the greatest number of initial and renewal ALT3 permits in 2020 was CD105 in Manhattan (602 total, 10% citywide).
Demolition (DM): Brooklyn had the greatest number of DM permits in 2020 (455 total, 32% citywide). The Community District with the greatest number permits issued in 2020 was CD503 in Staten Island (89 total, 6% citywide).
Total Permits: Manhattan had the greatest total number of permits issued in 2020 (54,942 total, 42% citywide). The Community District with the greatest number of permits issued in 2020 was CD105 in Manhattan (12,899 total, 10% citywide).

Demolition Permits Density Time Series (2000 - 2020)

This map shows concentrations of demolition permits between 2000-2020 (press play or click and drag time slider to iterate over years). Darker shades of red indicate higher concentrations of demolition permits while darker shades of green indicate lower concentrations.

New Building Permits Density Time Series (2000 - 2020)

This map shows concentrations of new building permits between 2000-2020 (press play or click and drag time slider to iterate over years). Darker shades of red indicate higher concentrations of new building permits while darker shades of blue indicate lower concentrations.

NYC Employment: Construction of Buildings (2000 - 2020)

Employment in the industry of building construction has steadily increased in New York City between 2010 and 2019 with a 59% increase in 2019 since 2010. 2020 showed it's first decline in building construction employment since 2010 with a 14% decrease from the previous year. Since 2018 there has been a decline in permit activity. In 2020 there was a 21% reduction since 2018 and a 11% since 2019. There is a strong correlation between construction employment numbers and permitting activity.

Source: US Department of Labor

Top 20 Development Projects (2020)

This map shows the top 20 approved New Building and Alteration permits issued with the highest estimated cost in 2020. 10 Columbus Circle in Manhattan had the greatest estimated cost of 265 million in 2020. Construction costs are self-reported by the applicant.

Job Type per Borough (2000 - 2020)

Since 2000, Queens and Brooklyn have seen the largest proportion of New Building, ALT1, and Demolition permits issued, whereas the most A2 and A3 permits have been issued in Manhattan. There are more A2 permits issued in Manhattan than the other four boroughs combined.

NB Total Square Footage & Dwelling Units (2019 - 2020)

This map shows initial new building permits issued in 2019 and 2020, with the larger/darker circles indicating higher total volume of square footage and dwelling units. Over the two-year period, Queens had the highest number of initial NB permits issued. Manhattan had 86% fewer NB permits issued than Queens. Brooklyn had both the greatest amount of square footage and the greatest amount of dwelling units over the two-year period.