New York permitted 22,880 homes in January to September 2026, 89% more than in the same months of 2025. That is the Census Bureau’s preliminary count, a change in the published totals rather than a measured new pace.
In 2025 the city finished 43,812 homes net of demolitions, the most in the City Planning department’s records, which start in 2010.
Measured each city’s own way, though, New York added homes more slowly per resident than London, the Paris region, Toronto or Tokyo over the last ten years: 2.8 permitted a year per thousand residents, against 9.7 started in Tokyo.
However, a different New York measure gives a different 2025. Its permits that year stayed below all four other cities’ main measures, but its net completions, 5.1 per 1,000 residents, were above every one but Tokyo’s.
Most of the homes in the new buildings finished that year, 61%, were in buildings first permitted in 2022.
In December 2024 the City Council approved City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, a zoning change the City says “enables the creation of 82,000 new homes over the next 15 years”.
Over ten years New York added homes more slowly per resident than the other four, on each one’s own count
Over the ten years to 2025, London added 4.3 homes a year per thousand residents, counted as net additions to its stock.
The Paris region started 5.3 and the Toronto area 5.9.
Tokyo started 9.7, about 3.5 times New York’s permits.
Count New York’s net completions instead and it’s still last, at 3.4 a year.
Its permits were last in the decade before too, at 2.7, the one New York measure that reaches back that far.
New York added the fewest homes per resident in both decades
Administrative Counts from an agency’s own records: the calls, inspections, trips or transactions it logs. They carry no sampling margin, but they count events rather than people, and they can be cut only by what the agency records about each one.New homes a year per 1,000 residents, averaged over each decade
The interactive chart needs JavaScript; its numbers are in the table below.
How to read this, and what it cannot show
Each row is a city and measure, and each dot a decade; New York has two rows, the Census Bureau’s permits and City Planning’s net completions. The figure at the right is 2016 to 2025. Hover or tap a dot for its average.
The numbers behind this chart
About these numbers. Each city's own measure (the measures table sets them side by side). New York's completions start in 2010, so their earlier decade is left out; London's decades are financial years ending in each span.
| Group | 2006 to 2015 | 2016 to 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| New York, permitted | 2.7 | 2.8 |
| New York, completed (net) | – | 3.4 |
| London, net added | 3.6 | 4.3 |
| Paris region, started | 4.4 | 5.3 |
| Toronto area, started | 6.3 | 5.9 |
| Tokyo, started | 10.7 | 9.7 |
The cities count a new home at different moments, and the table sets them side by side. Tokyo, Toronto and the Paris region count homes as work begins; New York’s permits authorise it, and a permit can lapse.
Where a city publishes both, the counts differ: over the decade the Paris region authorised 6.1 homes a year per thousand residents and started 5.3. These files can’t say how far New York’s permits run from its starts.
For London we use its net additions. Over the same April-to-March year to March 2025, its building-control counts recorded 19,020 completions, against 28,620 new-build homes in the net count.
The net count also includes rows the ministry labels adjustments to the 2011 and 2021 censuses; without them London’s decade comes to 4.0, still above New York’s. On building-control starts alone it would be 1.7, below.
The comparison also depends on where a city’s line is drawn. Paris itself started only 1.3 homes a year per thousand residents over the decade, fewer than New York; Paris with its inner ring started 5.1.
At the core, Tokyo’s 23 wards started 11.0 and the City of Toronto 6.5, more than their wider areas.
Tokyo started more homes per resident than New York permitted in every year since 1990
In 1990 Tokyo started 18.7 homes per thousand residents, and its pace has fallen since, to 8.6 in 2025.
New York’s permits never passed 1.6 through the 1990s; its highest year was 2015, when 56,183 homes were permitted.
That was 6.4 per thousand residents, a one-year spike still below Tokyo’s 10.5 that year.
Tokyo started more homes per resident than New York permitted in every year since 1990
Administrative Counts from an agency’s own records: the calls, inspections, trips or transactions it logs. They carry no sampling margin, but they count events rather than people, and they can be cut only by what the agency records about each one.New homes a year per 1,000 residents, each city's own measure
The interactive chart needs JavaScript; its numbers are in the table below.
How to read this, and what it cannot show
One line per city, each from its own first year. Hover or tap a point for the year’s rate.
The numbers behind this chart
About these numbers. New York: homes in buildings permitted (Census Bureau). Tokyo: homes started, from the notices owners file (MLIT). Toronto: homes started in the metropolitan area, from 2001 (CMHC). Paris region: homes started in Île-de-France, from 2002 (SDES). London: net additional homes (completions less demolitions), each financial year (April to March) drawn at the year it ends, from 2000-01 (MHCLG).
| Group | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York, homes permitted | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 6.4 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 2.3 |
| Tokyo, homes started | 18.7 | 14.0 | 13.7 | 13.2 | 14.2 | 13.2 | 14.0 | 13.1 | 12.5 | 12.3 | 13.9 | 13.1 | 14.2 | 15.5 | 15.1 | 14.8 | 14.7 | 10.7 | 12.1 | 8.3 | 9.1 | 9.9 | 10.7 | 10.9 | 10.6 | 10.5 | 10.9 | 10.9 | 10.4 | 9.9 | 9.4 | 9.6 | 9.6 | 9.1 | 8.7 | 8.6 |
| Toronto area, homes started | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8.4 | 8.8 | 8.9 | 8.2 | 7.9 | 7.0 | 6.1 | 7.7 | 4.6 | 5.1 | 6.9 | 8.2 | 5.7 | 4.8 | 7.0 | 6.4 | 6.3 | 6.5 | 4.7 | 5.9 | 6.5 | 6.8 | 6.9 | 5.3 | 3.7 |
| Paris region, homes started | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3.1 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 4.8 | 5.1 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 5.1 | 5.5 | 6.9 | 6.6 | 6.2 | 5.2 | 5.8 | 5.5 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 3.7 |
| London, net homes added | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2.2 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 3.6 | 2.7 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 3.7 | 4.1 | 5.1 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 5.1 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 3.6 |
The gap with the Paris region is newer. From 2005 to 2008 New York’s permits ran at 3.9 to 4.2 per thousand residents.
The Paris region’s starts ran at 3.8 to 4.2.
Then New York’s permits fell to 0.7 in 2009, and since then they have matched their 2005-2008 pace only in 2015 and 2022. In 2025 Tokyo started 3.7 times as many homes per resident as New York permitted.
New York’s permits nearly doubled in the first nine months of 2026
The table gives each city’s count for January to September of both years. New York’s are permits; the others’ are starts.
New York's permits nearly doubled in the first nine months of 2026
Administrative Counts from an agency’s own records: the calls, inspections, trips or transactions it logs. They carry no sampling margin, but they count events rather than people, and they can be cut only by what the agency records about each one.New homes in January to September of 2025 and 2026
The interactive chart needs JavaScript; its numbers are in the table below.
How to read this, and what it cannot show
Each row is a city and each dot a year; the figure at the right is 2026.
The numbers behind this chart
About these numbers. Counts, not rates: the cities differ in size. New York's 2026 permits are preliminary. Tokyo's 2025 includes an unusually large March. The Paris region's 2026 comes from the ministry's new system (Sitadel3) from March, which slightly revised the published figures.
| Group | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| New York, permitted | 12,107 | 22,880 |
| Tokyo, started | 91,520 | 87,929 |
| Toronto area, started | 20,129 | 17,397 |
| Paris region, started | 28,330 | 37,561 |
Tokyo’s 2025 months include an unusual March, 16,131 starts against a median of 9,480 in its other months.
The Paris region’s published estimates rose across a change of system: “À compter de mars 2026, les données sur la construction neuve de logements sont produites à partir du dispositif Sitadel3, qui remplace Sitadel2,” from March 2026 the figures come from a new system, the ministry says. How much of the rise is building and how much is counting can’t be separated here.
Per resident, New York’s nine months come to 2.7 homes per thousand, ahead of the Toronto area’s 2.5, on 2025 populations for both.
That is a lead of about 9%.
The Paris region’s came to 3.0 and Tokyo’s to 6.2.
Tokyo’s pace is still 2.3 times New York’s.
2025 was a record for completions, not for permits
“New York is building more than ever.” For completions, within the City’s records, yes: 43,812 net in 2025, the most in them.
For permits, no: 2025’s 19,763 were well below 2015’s 56,183.
“Tokyo builds far more homes than New York.” On these measures, yes: more per resident in every year since 1990, and 122,130 homes started in 2025 against New York’s 19,763 permitted.
“London builds even less than New York.” It depends on London’s count. Its net additions averaged 4.3 a year per thousand residents over the decade, above New York’s 3.4 completions; its building-control counts would put it below.
“City of Yes caused this year’s surge.” Not testable here: a permit count can track what follows a rule, not whether the rule caused it.
More months of permits will show whether the rise lasts, not why
On each city’s own measure, New York added homes more slowly per resident than the other four over the last decade. Whether this year’s rise in permits lasts needs more months of the same counts, matched month for month with 2025.
The next reading is the Census Bureau’s county permits for October, the first month after this year’s nine.
Questions this raises
Is a permit the same as a start?
Not quite; the table gives the moment each city counts. In New York, completions follow permits by years, which is why its record completions in 2025 sit beside ordinary permits.
Of the homes proposed in the new buildings finished in 2025, 99.8% had a known permit year, and of those 61% were in buildings first permitted in 2022.
Do the boundaries and populations matter?
Yes, they can change the order. Paris itself started 1.3 homes a year per thousand residents over the decade, below New York, while the Paris region started 5.3.
Toronto’s metropolitan area is redrawn after each census: its starts follow each year’s boundary and its population the 2021 boundary, and the files can’t rebuild one constant area. The City of Toronto, whose count and population share one area, gives a higher rate, 6.5, so on that check Toronto stays above New York.
Tokyo revised its population for 2021 to 2025 to its 2025 census on 29 October 2026, after these files were read, lowering it. With its population half a percent lower from 2021, about twice the revision to 1 January 2026, Tokyo’s decade still rounds to 9.7 and its 2025 to 8.6.
This year’s rates use each area’s latest population, 2025 for New York, Tokyo and Toronto and 1 January 2026 for the Paris region.
Under the hood
New York’s permits are the Census Bureau’s homes in buildings permitted in the five counties, from its annual and year-to-date county files; its completions are the City Planning department’s Class A homes completed each year: new buildings plus alterations less demolitions. Tokyo’s starts are MLIT’s new dwellings started in Tokyo-to; London’s are MHCLG’s net additional dwellings, each financial year divided by the population of the year it starts in and drawn at the year it ends; the Paris region’s are SDES’s dwellings started in Île-de-France’s eight départements; Toronto’s are CMHC’s starts in the metropolitan area. Each is divided by the residents of the same area in the same year, from its own statistical office.
The ten-year averages are the mean of the ten yearly rates. This year’s comparisons use January to September in both years; no model of an underlying pace is fitted. The published totals the files reproduce are in the box below; the data and the code are linked at the end.
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Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau — Building Permits Survey, county files (Annual files 1990-2025; year-to-date files for January-September 2025 and 2026 (2026 preliminary), retrieved 1 November 2026) — Homes permitted in the five boroughs each year and this year to September
- NYC Department of City Planning — Housing Database (Release 25Q4, completions 2010-2025) — Homes completed each year, net of demolitions, and when each new building was first permitted
- NYC Department of City Planning — City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, final plan (Approved by the City Council in December 2024; retrieved 29 October 2026) — The approval and the plan's 82,000 homes, quoted
- Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (Japan) — Building Starts Statistics (建築着工統計調査), via e-Stat; Tokyo Metropolitan Government — starts by area (Annual by prefecture 1951-2025; monthly to September 2026 (published 30 October 2026, retrieved 1 November); the 23 wards 2015-2025) — Homes started in Tokyo-to and its 23 wards
- Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (England) — Live Tables 118 and 217 (Table 118 to 2024-25 (provisional; November 2025); Table 217 to 2026 Q2) — London's net additional homes and its building-control starts and completions
- SDES (Ministère de la Transition écologique) — Logements autorisés et commencés, séries départementales (Sitadel), and its release of 28 October 2026 (January 2002 to September 2026, vintage of October 2026) — Homes started and authorised in Île-de-France, Paris and the inner ring; the change to Sitadel3, quoted
- Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, via Statistics Canada — Table 34-10-0154-01; CMHC Housing Market Information Portal (January 1972 to September 2026; the City of Toronto 1998-2025) — Homes started and completed in the Toronto metropolitan area, and starts in the city
- Population estimates — U.S. Census Bureau, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, ONS (Nomis), INSEE, Statistics Canada (Each office's latest series, retrieved 29 October 2026) — Every rate's denominator, each area's residents in the same year
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