REBNY releases its New Building Construction Pipeline Report for Q3 2025

New York, NY The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) released its New Building Construction Pipeline Report for Q3 2025. This report examines new building job application filings submitted to the Department of Buildings, providing historical comparisons and insights into the current state of development in New York City. The report shows a year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter uptick in overall construction activity by both building permits and construction square footage. Multifamily housing activity alone surged in Q3 2025, significantly surpassing the historical average since 2008 and nearly reaching production goals set by the Governor and Mayor to add 500,000 new units over the next decade. At the same time, Q3 2025 continued the recent trend of a proliferation of small and medium sized buildings, including a surge in exactly 99-unit projects.

In Q3 2025 there were 507 new building filings across property types, reflecting a 20% increase from Q2 2025 and a 56% increase year-over-year. However, this overall total is 11% below the historical average since 2008. The total proposed construction square footage in Q3 2025 was 17.8 million, a 110% increase from Q2 2025 and a 162% increase from Q3 2024. The total proposed square footage is 42% above the historic average and breaks a ten-quarter streak of total proposed construction square footage under 10 million.

Looking specifically at multifamily housing, there were 11,746 proposed multiple dwelling units spread across 207 proposed buildings in Q3 2025, which is a 69% increase in units from the previous quarter and 162% higher than the overall average in units since 2008. This is the fourth most proposed units in a quarter since Q3 2015.

Of the units proposed in Q3 2025, 133 were within buildings of 50 units or less, 61 were in buildings of 50-99 units, two were in buildings between 100-149 units and 11 were in buildings of 150 or more units. The total number of multiple dwelling units in the 61 buildings with 50-99 units was 5,034 in Q3 2025, which is 260% above the historical average recorded since 2008. 21 of the 61 buildings with 50-99 units in Q3 2025 had exactly 99 proposed units. From 2008 through 2023, only 13 buildings had 99 proposed units. Since Q2 2024, there have been 56 buildings with 99 proposed units filed with the Department of Buildings.

“The Q3 2023 results are welcome news for New York City’s economy, as more proposed buildings and construction square footage translates to more quality job opportunities for New Yorkers,” said Zachary Steinberg, REBNY executive vice president of external relations and advocacy. “It’s critical that policymakers and other advocates do not become complacent in response to the quarter’s housing production totals. The strong results come following a decade-plus of underproduction that needs to be addressed and can’t be done 99 units at a time. Additional policy actions to encourage more new housing construction are needed to promote long-term economic vibrancy and greater affordability in New York City.”

Looking at filings broken out by borough in Q3 2025, Queens leads with 174 filings for more than 4,300 and 87% of total square footage was proposed outside of Manhattan.

The full report can be accessed here.