MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG RELEASES INITIAL FINDINGS
OF 2002 NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AND VACANCY SURVEY
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Jerilyn Perine today released the initial results of the 2002 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (HVS). The 2002 HVS reports that the number of vacant rental units in New York City was 61,265 and the citywide rental vacancy rate was 2.94 percent during the period between February and June 2002. The rental vacancy rate is significantly lower than the 5 percent threshold mandated by state law to justify the continuation of rent control and rent stabilization.
The survey also reports that the City’s total inventory of residential units was 3.2 million, the largest housing stock since the first HVS was conducted in 1965. The 2002 HVS also reports that housing conditions, and particularly building conditions, in the City were the best since the HVS started covering them. The survey is conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census at the request of the City of New York every three years.
“The 2002 survey shows that the City has improved housing conditions,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Twenty years ago, few people viewing the devastated neighborhoods of Harlem, the South Bronx, and Central Brooklyn could imagine the renaissance these neighborhoods have experienced. Today, with help from the City government, the neighborhoods have been revitalized and the communities renewed. However, we still face the problems of a serious housing shortage, affordability, and crowding because the City is a desirable place to live.
"In order to address these problems, I announced a housing plan to increase new housing production throughout the City which includes preserving the existing affordable housing units. Specifically, let me be clear that I support the rent regulation laws as they exist today."
“The Mayor’s $3 billion housing plan, The New Housing Marketplace: Creating Housing for the Next Generation, will create and preserve more than 65,000 homes and apartments in the City’s neighborhoods in the next five years,” Commissioner Perine said. “The Mayor’s vision for Lower Manhattan includes another 10,000 units of housing.”
Viewed at its most basic, the survey is a report required every three years by State and City rent regulation laws and is designed to determine New York City’s overall vacancy rate for rental housing. Considered more broadly, it is the most comprehensive housing market survey conducted in any city in the United States. The 2002 HVS is the first survey following the decennial census. Before the end of the year, we expect the Census Bureau to revise prior HVS data that will be comparable with 2002 HVS data so that we may analyze trends and changes in New York City’s housing market over the last three decades.
The comprehensive final report on the 2002 Housing and Vacancy Survey will be released early next year by HPD, the department that commissioned the survey on behalf of the City of New York.
Initial findings of the survey indicate that:
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The number of housing units in New York City was 3,209,000 in 2002, the largest housing stock since the first HVS was conducted in 1965. Since the first HVS, the Census Bureau has excluded housing units in special places such as institutions, group quarters, dormitories, and commercial hotels.
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The number of rental units was 2,085,000.
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The homeownership rate for the City as a whole was 32.7 percent in 2002—that is, one in three households in the City was an owner household.
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In 2002, the number of vacant units available for rent was 61,000, while the number of vacant units available for sale was 15,000.
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The 2002 HVS reports a citywide rental vacancy rate of 2.94 percent during the period between February and June of 2002. This 2002 rental vacancy rate is significantly lower than the 5 percent threshold mandated by state law to justify the continuation of rent control and rent stabilization.
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In 2002, in Manhattan the rental vacancy rate was 3.86 percent, the highest of the five boroughs, while in Queens it was only 1.78 percent, the lowest. The vacancy rate in the Bronx was 3.29 percent, while it was 2.73 percent in Brooklyn in 2002. There were too few vacant rental units in Staten Island to report.
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Vacant units available for low rents were extremely scarce. The rental vacancy rate in 2002 for units with asking rents of less than $700 was lower than 2.00 percent. The rate was 1.54 percent for units with asking rents of less than $500 and 1.42 percent for units with asking rents between $500 and $699.
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Starting with asking rents in the $700-$799 range, the availability of vacant rental units increases steadily. The vacancy rate for units with asking rents of $700-$799 was 2.61 percent; the rate for units with an asking rent level of $800-$999 was 3.66 percent. The vacancy rate moves up close to 5.00 percent as asking rent levels go further up: it was 4.36 percent for units with an asking rent level of $1,000-$1,749.
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The vacancy rate for units with asking rents of $1,750 or more climbed sharply to 9.25 percent. The rate for units with asking rents of $2,000 or more inched up further to 10.05 percent, the highest among vacancy rates for all the various rent levels.
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The median annual income for all households (renters and owners combined) was $39,000 in 2001. The median annual income of renter households was $31,000 while the median annual income of homeowners was $60,000.
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The proportion of renter households with incomes below the poverty level in 2001 was 22.5 percent.
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In 2002, the median monthly gross rent (which includes utility payments) was $788, while the median monthly contract rent (which excludes tenant payments for utilities) was $706.
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One in four rental units in the City had a gross rent of less than $600 in 2002, and a little more than one in ten had a gross rent of less than $400. At the same time, the gross rent of almost half the rental units in the City was in the $600-$999 range. The gross rent of one in ten rental units was $1,500 or more in 2002.
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In 2002, the median gross rent-income ratio was 28.6 percent—that is, half of renters paid close to 30 percent of their household income for gross rent (rent and utilities payments).
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More than a quarter of renter households in the City (25.5 percent) paid more than 50 percent of their household’s income for gross rent in 2002.
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The crowding situation in the City remained serious in 2002. The proportion of renter households that were crowded (more than one person per room) was 11.1 percent.
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In 2002, housing conditions in the City were the best since the HVS started covering them. Almost all housing units in the City were in structurally good buildings. Of all occupied units, 0.5 percent were in dilapidated buildings in 2002. The 2002 dilapidation rate was the lowest in the 37-year period since 1965.
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Neighborhood quality also remained very good. The proportion of renter households near buildings with broken or boarded-up windows on the street was 8.7 percent in 2002.
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The proportion of renter households that rated the quality of their neighborhood residential structures as “good” or “excellent” was 69.0 percent in 2002.