The Bronx beat Brooklyn in terms of new housing units completed in 2023, according to a new report issued by the New York City Department of City Planning, and it’s the first time to do so since 2011.
Since 2018, the borough has been adding over 4,000 units of new housing but 2023 saw almost double the average for the prior five years.
27,980 residential units—both market rate and affordable—in new construction buildings were completed across New York City in 2023 with The Bronx accounting for 9,842—35% of the city’s total.
Mott Haven and Port Morris topped the list of neighborhoods with the most completed units in 2023 with 2,326 units followed by the Concourse and Concourse Village area of the borough with 2,118 units of market rate and affordable housing units.
Bankside at 101 Lincoln in Port Morris accounted for 901 units alone—all market rate luxury despite the small percentage set aside for “affordable” housing that were set aside for residents making 130% of the area median income.
While the news of more units to address the housing crisis and affordability shortage is good news, unfortunately we know that many of these units were anything but truly affordable.
The report also indicates that there are a total of 16,721 new construction units in the pipeline that have been permitted yet not completed.
Unfortunately, there’s no indication that many of these will be truly affordable for local residents especially given the fact that 421-a tax benefit expired in 2022 leaving little incentive in place for developers to build affordable housing since it was used to offset the high cost of real estate in New York City.
So while The Bronx may have beat out every other borough in New York City with new construction residential units completed in 2023, who is the real winner?
Not the people of The Bronx.
