In 2002, the state had an estimated 7,754,508 housing units, of which 7,060,516 were occupied. An estimated 3,223,004 units, or 41.5%, are located in New York City (NYC). The housing stock in New York is relatively old. About 33% of all units in the state were built before or during 1939; 51% were built between 1940 and 1979. In NYC, 70% of all housing units were built before 1960; in Buffalo, 75% of all units were built before 1939.
Statewide in 2002, 41.9% of all units were single-family, detached homes. In NYC, however, only 10% were single, detached units; 47.7% of the city's housing units are located in buildings of 20 units or more. Housing differences in New York City offer far greater contrasts than units per structure: the posh apartment houses of Manhattan and the hovels of the South Bronx both count as multi-unit dwellings. New York State had the 2nd-lowest percentage of owner-occupied housing in the country, at 53.8% in 2002 (only the District of Columbia was lower). Characteristic of housing in New York is a system of rent controls that began in 1943. It was estimated that 137,919 units in NYC lacked telephone service, 17,901 lacked complete plumbing facilities, and 22,711 lacked complete kitchen facilities. These figures represent roughly half of the statewide total.
The tight housing market—which may have contributed to the exodus of New Yorkers from the state—was not helped by the slump in housing construction from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. In New York City, more units were demolished than built every year from 1974 to 1981. The drop in construction of omulti-unit dwellings was even more noticeable: from 64,959 units in 1972 to 11,740 units in 1982. In 1993, only 7,723 multi-unit dwellings were authorized. The overall decline in construction was coupled with a drastic drop in new public housing. In 1972, permits were issued for 111,282 units valued at $2.1 billion. By 1975, however, only 32,623 units worth $756 million were authorized; in 1982 there were only 25,280 units worth $1.1 billion, and in 1996, 34,895 units valued at $3.1 billion were authorized. In 1998, numbers were on the rebound with 38,400 new privately owned housing units.
In 2002, 49,149 new privately owned housing units were authorized for construction. The median home value for the state was $176,438, 9th in the country. The median home value in NYC was $277,237. The median monthly cost for mortgage owners statewide was $1,411; renters paid a median of $727 per month. In NYC, the median monthly cost for mortgage owners was $1,695; renters paid a median of $771 per month.
Direct state aid for housing is limited. Governmental and quasi-independent agencies dealing with housing include the following: the Division of Housing and Community Renewal of the Executive Department, which makes loans and grants to municipalities for slum clearance and construction of low-income housing, supervises the operation of more than 400 housing developments, and administers rent-control and rent-stabilization laws; the New York State Housing Finance Agency, which is empowered to issue notes and bonds for various construction projects, not limited to housing; the State of New York Mortgage Agency, which may purchase existing mortgage loans from banks in order to make funds available for the banks to make new mortgage loans, and which also offers mortgage insurance; and the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC), a multibillion dollar agency designed to raise capital for all types of construction, including low-income housing. During 2002, New York received more than $657.8 million in community planning and development aid from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.