New York City is falling behind other cities when it comes to building new housing.
Permits for constructing residential units in U.S. cities have recovered to pre-crash levels in major U.S. cities, the Wall Street Journal reported. But in New York, the 17,995 units that were approved in 2013 represent just more than half of the 34,000 authorized in 2008, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures cited by the newspaper.
San Francisco, Washington, D.C, Seattle and Boston have all seen residential construction recover, according to the Journal.
Among the reasons for the sluggish pace of construction that developers pointed to are an arcane building approval process, difficulty securing financing, high land prices and competition from pricey condo developments and the Bloomberg administration’s creation of more than 40 historic districts. [WSJ] – Tom DiChristopher