As expected, when the 421-a tax abatement policy expired on June 15, the number of building permits issued for the following month plummeted. But the decline is somewhat staggering: Approximately 1,800 permits were issued in July, a 90 percent decrease from the previous month, when nearly 18,000 permits were issued, according to Crain's. The biggest losses were felt in Brooklyn and Queens (where only 72 permits were issued, down from 3,824 in June—yikes). It also didn't help that developers rushed to file an exceedingly high number of permits in April and May, too—as we previously reported, in those two months, more permits were approved for new construction in New York City than in the entirety of 2013.
But as Crain's note, not all is lost: The number of building permits issued in the first few months of 2015 is 43,783, which is the most since 2008, when approximately 33,000 were issued for the entire year. And both the rent regulation and 421-a laws were extended temporarily at the end of June, meaning that the number of permits could potentially reach June levels once again.
· Number of building permits plunge [Crain's]
· Thousands of Hastily Approved Buildings Will Rise in NYC [Curbed]
· New York's Rent Regulations Will Be Extended for 4 Years [Curbed]
· New York's Great 421-a Debate: The Uncertain Future of Trading Affordable Housing for Tax Breaks [Curbed]