Northeast

Nationwide, the country faces an estimated shortfall of roughly 3 million homes.

Roughly 1 million of these are in the area around New York City. Housing shortages here are more severe than anywhere else in the country outside of California. Much of the residential construction in recent years has focused on high-end, luxury developments that are not designed to be broadly affordable.

Issues with the commercial real estate sector can present a solution for the region’s housing prices. Converting unneeded offices to badly needed apartments makes a lot of sense on paper but is prohibitively complicated and expensive in practice. If commercial property prices continue to fall, however, more resources can be allocated for conversion rather than acquisition. Adaptive reuse projects have been gaining permitting approval across the region.

Despite these developments, there remains considerable work to be done in the region. The infrastructure sector, bolstered by federal spending, is thriving. Several new manufacturing facilities are also in development, along with data centers and hospitals. These projects represent a significant opportunity for the market, as they will likely one day anchor affordable housing and mixed-use projects.

* Other structures include religious buildings, amusement, government communications, and public recreation projects.