How Jersey City's housing market has SJ's beat
Head of the Market Urbanism Report Scott Beyer digs into the NY metro area's rising competitor: Jersey City, to which many are fleeing from NYC's top-dollar but housing-scarce market. What is JC doing that NY, and Bay Area cities like SJ, isn't? They quickly and regularly approve housing permits and encourage creative construction as the free market dictates.
This starts with permits; Jersey City and neighboring cities build substantially more housing than most of the New York metro area at large. According to the Citizen’s Budget Commission, Hudson County overall permits well over double the rate of housing that New York City does (51 units/10ks residents vs. 22 units/10k residents). For this reason Hudson County is growing faster than New York City (7% vs 3% from 2011-2020) and the percentage growth rate since then is a whopping 18% for Jersey City.
Many renters move to Jersey City; it was one of the top 10 destinations for renters in the U.S. This includes New York City renters in particular, suggesting they can find a similar lifestyle across the river. Jersey City does have a high average rent price, at $3,821 for a 2-bedroom apartment, but it’s cheaper than New York City’s overall average of $4,927. Furthermore, the money stretches further along the west side of the Hudson River. As a local realtor stated: “In Jersey City you can purchase a brand-new construction condo with three bedrooms, two baths, private outdoor space, parking, laundry and roof deck with NYC views for less than $1 million. In many parts of New York City, this same condo would be upward of $2 to 3 million....”
New York’s housing production is anemic relative to demand, both in the city and surrounding non-Jersey suburbs. Notes the Citizen’s Budget Commission: “counties like Westchester, Rockland, Nassau, and Suffolk have some of the lowest housing production rates in the country.” Despite being known for density more than any other U.S. city, New York has in fact downzoned in recent decades. A 2010 NYU study found that out of 180,000 parcels, “14 percent had been upzoned, 23 percent downzoned, and 63 percent had not had their development capacity changed by more than 10 percent” the prior decade, reported Politico.
Jersey City, by contrast, encourages high-rise construction. According to SkyscraperCenter, the city is the 10th “tallest” in the United States (and 13th in North America). While Manhattan is famous for its skyscrapers, this is mostly a legacy from more permissive past eras, and now anti-height NIMBYism is common. By contrast, Jersey City has allowed a whole new skyline, with 35 of its 43 tallest towers getting built since 2000.
This article originally appeared in the Market Urbanism Report. Read the whole thing here.
Read more about SJ’s housing market here.
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