New York City is on pace to complete 50,000 new homes this year, according to newly released data from the Department of City Planning. In the first half of 2025, developers completed 25,674 residential units, putting the city on track to meet the 50,000 homes needed per year to reach Mayor Eric Adams’ “moonshot” goal of 500,000 new homes over the next decade. As first spotted by Crain’s, the projected total would far exceed last year’s 34,000 units, which marked the highest number of new homes built in the city since 1965.
During the first two quarters of the year, Brooklyn led the five boroughs in completions, with 11,747 units, followed by Queens with 6,467, the Bronx with 4,593, Manhattan with 2,576, and Staten Island with 291. Completions include alterations, demolitions, and newly constructed buildings.
Manhattan led the city in new permits, with 4,425 plans filed, followed by Brooklyn and the Bronx with 3,465 each, Queens with 1,255, and Staten Island with 181. Most of Manhattan’s permits were for alterations, likely reflecting the borough’s ongoing wave of office-to-residential conversions.
The city’s first wave of conversion projects is projected to yield over 17,000 new apartments, according to a July report by City Comptroller Brad Lander. The analysis found that 44 office conversions initiated after the pandemic could transform 15.2 million square feet of office space into as many as 17,400 homes over the coming years.
The surge in 2025 completions was likely driven by developers rushing to start projects before the 421-a tax abatement expired in 2022, with many now reaching completion. This raises questions about the sustainability of such growth, as the 485-x program that replaced 421-a has proven far less attractive to developers, according to Crain’s.
While the rise in office-to-residential conversions, encouraged by the city’s new 467-m tax break, shows promise for sustaining housing production, it is unlikely to be enough to maintain the rate of 50,000 new units per year.
Andrew Fine, policy director at Open New York, told Crain’s that maintaining the current pace of construction is unrealistic. “Right now, the track is not continuing at 50,000 a year moving forward,” he said. “We have to keep on improving our policies to get there.”
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