As the Nation's Multifamily Goes, so Goes Manhattan: Are Tightening Local Regulations Really to Blame for Reduced Coastal Housing Supply?

Abstract

Housing Supply in Manhattan has fallen relative to total US housing supply over the last 45 years. This time trend is entirely explained away by a combination of the fall of Robert Moses's urban renewal empire and the decreasing national share of construction that is multifamily. Similar results over a shorter period hold for metropolitan New York and San Francisco.