Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)  Commissioner Shaun Donovan today released the initial results of the 2005 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (HVS).   The 2005 HVS shows that the City's total inventory of residential units was 3.3 million, the largest housing stock in the forty-year period since the first HVS was conducted in 1965.  New York City's housing stock increased by 52,000 between 2002 and 2005, the largest increase since 1991.  The number of rent-stabilized units rose from 1,042,397 in 2002 to 1,043,677 in 2005 which shows that Mayor Bloomberg's housing plan is successfully replacing units lost through luxury decontrol with rent stabilized units for low- and middle- income families. The HVS also reports that the homeownership rate in the City was 33.3 percent in 2005, an all-time high for the forty-year period since 1965.  In further evidence of the housing construction boom, separate data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that the number of new housing units authorized for construction in 2005 was the highest since 1972, leading to even larger increases in the housing stock that will be shown in the next HVS.  In addition, both New Yorkers' satisfaction with their neighborhoods and overall building conditions were the best ever in the 27-years since the HVS started examining them.

"With the largest housing stock recorded since the first HVS was conducted, the homeownership rate at an all-time high and the number of rent-stabilized units remaining steady, this Survey shows that our New Housing Marketplace Plan to build and preserve 165,000 units of housing over ten years is producing big results," said Mayor Bloomberg.  "The Survey charts the building boom that is developing new housing across the City for our growing population. We are creating new homeownership opportunities and building affordable and rent-stabilized apartments for working New York families. Our Housing Plan, as part of our five borough economic strategy, is helping to revive neighborhoods throughout the City, with the Survey reporting neighborhood conditions the best since the HVS started covering them and more renters rating their neighborhoods highly than in 2002."

HPD Commissioner Shaun Donovan said "The Housing and Vacancy Survey records the successful creation of new housing in all five boroughs. It also shows that affordability continues to be a major challenge for a world-class city like New York. Our population is booming and the City's economic success puts pressure on rents and housing prices. That's why the Mayor's New Housing Marketplace Plan is making use of creative tools to ensure that a large share of new housing construction is affordable. We are working with other government agencies and private and non-profit affordable housing partners to create new homes and new opportunities for half a million New Yorkers."

The 2005 HVS finds that the number of vacant rental units in New York City was 64,737 and therefore the citywide rental vacancy rate was 3.09 percent during the period between February and June 2005.  While the Survey shows a strong increase in the City's housing stock, the vacancy rate is significantly lower than the 5-percent threshold mandated by State and City laws to justify the continuation of rent control and rent stabilization.

For 27 years the HVS has covered neighborhood satisfaction, and this report shows that neighborhood satisfaction is the best ever recorded.  The proportion of renter households near buildings with broken or boarded-up windows on the same street was a mere 6.3 percent in 2005, a 2.4-percentage point improvement from 2002, and the best in the 27-year period since 1978, when the HVS started to measure neighborhood condition.

The HVS provides an in-depth analysis of the City's housing market and its data is required by State and City laws to determine the continuation of rent control and rent stabilization. The survey is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau at the request of the City of New York every three years.

The HVS is a comprehensive housing market survey 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. Full details of the 2005 HVS initial findings are available on HPD's website at www.nyc.gov/hpd. The comprehensive final report on the 2005 HVS will be released in 2007 by HPD which commissioned the survey on behalf of the City of New York.

Initial findings of the survey indicate that:

• The vacancy rate for units available for rent in the City during the period between February and June of 2005 was 3.09 percent. It was 2.94 percent during a similar period in 2002. The 2005 rental vacancy rate is significantly lower than 5.0 percent and, thus, meets the legal threshold mandated by State and City laws to justify the continuation of rent control and rent stabilization.

• The number of housing units in New York City was 3,261,000 in 2005, the largest housing stock in the forty-year period since the first HVS was conducted in 1965. The housing inventory increased by 52,000 units between 2002 and 2005. This is the largest increase between two survey years since 1991.

• The total number of occupied rental units increased by 4,000, from 2,024,000 in 2002 to 2,028,000 in 2005, while the total number of occupied owner units increased by 29,000, from 982,000 to 1,010,000 in 2005. Vacant units, both rental and owner, increased between 2002 and 2005: vacant units available for rent increased by 5.7 percent, from 61,000 to 65,000; vacant units available for sale increased substantially by 41.0 percent, from 15,000 to 21,000. The number of vacant units not available for sale or rent was 137,000 in 2005, a 10,000-unit increase from 2002. Of these, the number undergoing or awaiting renovation was 48,000, which should become available for occupancy before long. In 2002, 40,000 were undergoing or awaiting renovation.

• There were 1,044,000 rent-stabilized units (occupied and vacant), comprising 50 percent of the rental stock in 2005. The number of rent-stabilized units in buildings built in or before 1947 declined by 28,000, while the number of stabilized units in buildings built after 1947 increased by 29,000 in the three years.

• The homeownership rate for the City as a whole was 33.3 percent in 2005-that is, one in three households in the City was an owner household, an all-time high for the forty-year period since 1965, when the first HVS was conducted. In 2002 the homeownership rate was 32.7 percent.

• In Manhattan, the rental vacancy rate was 3.79 percent, the highest of the five boroughs. In the Bronx it was 2.63 percent, the lowest. The rental vacancy rate in Queens was 2.82 percent, while it was 2.78 percent in Brooklyn. There were too few vacant rental units in Staten Island to report a vacancy rate.

• The average (mean) income in 2004 was $63,512. In 2001 it was $63,465 (adjusted to 2004 numbers to take account of inflation). While the HVS housing data surveys conditions in 2005, the HVS income data reports figures for 2004. Therefore, the income data does not reflect employment gains made in 2005.

• The median income, or midpoint, for all households was $40,000 in 2004. The real income (i.e. adjusted for inflation) for all households decreased by 6.3 percent between 2001 and 2004. In the previous three-year period between 1998 and 2001, real household income increased by 9.8 percent.

• The median income of homeowners was $65,000 in 2004. Homeowners' real income changed little from 2001. Between 1998 and 2001, homeowners' real income increased by 5.1 percent.

• The proportion of renter households with incomes below the federal poverty level remained virtually the same: 22.5 percent in 2001 and 22.6 percent in 2004.

• The median monthly gross rent (which includes utility payments) increased from $788 in 2002 to $920 in 2005. The inflation-adjusted increase in median gross rent was 5.4 percent. In the previous three years between 1999 and 2002, the real gross rent increased by 3.3 percent.

• The median monthly contract rent (which excludes tenant payments for fuel and utilities) increased from $706 in 2002 to $850 in 2005. After adjusting for inflation, contract rent increased by 8.7 percent. The real contract rent had not changed between 1999 and 2002.

• In April 2005 dollars, the number of units with monthly gross rents of less than $500 remained virtually the same between 2002 and 2005. The numbers of units with monthly gross rents between $500 and $799 and between $800 and $999 decreased by 16.2 percent and by 6.2 percent respectively.

• The number of units with monthly gross rents between $1,000 and $1,499 and monthly gross rents of $1,500 or more increased by 17.0 percent and 20.6 percent respectively.

• The median gross rent/income ratio increased from 28.6 percent in 2002 to 31.2 percent in 2005. That is, half of renters in the City paid 31 percent or more of their household income for gross rent (rent and utility payments).

• In 2005, of all renter households in the City, close to three in ten (28.8 percent) paid more than 50 percent of their income for gross rent. It was 25.5 percent in 2002.

• Neighborhood satisfaction improved and was the best in the 27-year period since the HVS started covering it. The proportion of renter households near buildings with broken or boarded-up windows on the same street was a mere 6.3 percent in 2005, a 2.4-percentage point improvement from 2002, and the best in the 27-year period since 1978, when the HVS started to measure neighborhood condition.

• The proportion of renter households that rated the quality of their neighborhood residential structures as "good" or "excellent" was 71.3 percent in 2005, a 2.2-percentage point improvement from 2002 and the best in the 27-year period, since the HVS began to measure household opinion of neighborhood quality in 1978. In 1978 the rating of "good" or "excellent" was 56.2 percent and in 1987 it was 63.1 percent.

• In 2005 building conditions remained amongst the best since the HVS started covering them. For all occupied units, the dilapidation rate was 0.5 percent, remaining at a very low level. The dilapidation rate for rental units was 0.7 percent in 2005. While the rate in 2002 was 0.6 percent the 2005 figure remains historically low compared to 4.0 percent in 1965, 3.4 percent in 1984, and 1.3 percent in 1996.

• Housing maintenance conditions were very good. The proportion of renter-occupied units with five or more of the seven maintenance deficiencies measured by the 2005 HVS was extremely low, only 4.9 percent in 2005, remaining near 2002's low of 4.0 percent. In 1991 the rate was 7.7 percent.