HPD Releases Initial Findings from the 2021 NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey

The NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) recently released selected initial findings from the 2021 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (NYCHVS) after state lawmakers voted twice to delay the report by more than a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to accommodate U.S. Census outreach.

Conducted since 1965, NYCHVS is the longest running housing survey in the country and the official source of the city’s net rental vacancy rate, used to determine the continued need for rent stabilization. Over time, the survey has kept up with the city’s evolution, with the 2021 survey expanding to measure the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on households among other updates.

The survey creates a comprehensive profile of the city’s housing stock, neighborhoods, population, and vacancy rate. Here are the key data points from the selected initial findings of the 2021 NYCHVS:

• A citywide net rental vacancy rate of 4.54 percent.
• The city’s overall median household income would need to double to afford the overall median asking rent of $2,750.
• There is an extreme vacancy shortage among the city’s lowest-cost units: The vacancy rate for homes listed below $1,500 was less than 1 percent–the lowest in 30 years.
• Since 2011, the level of rent-burdened households has remained at the same high level: Half of the city’s renter households spent more than 30 percent of their income on rent. One-third of the city’s renters spent over half of their income on rent, indicating a severe rent burden.
• Many NYC renters struggled to make ends meet: 13 percent of renter households reported missing a rent payment in the last year.

The 2021 NYCHVS was conducted from February 2021 to July 2021 through in-person interviews among a representative sample of NYC households. Processing of the data by the U.S. Census Bureau began in July 2021 and the Bureau granted final approval for public disclosure of the data scheduled to be released in May 2022.