A big issue is what we're building rather than how much we're building or what we're converting.
There is way too much ultra-luxury buildings getting built in NYC. It's simply too profitable and there's little to no incentive to build (or convert) apartments normal people can afford.
Another problem for NYC in particular, a lot of the buildings that exist already would be illegal to build now. I get the desire to avoid streets being in constant shadow from surrounding buildings but large footprint buildings are simply a more efficient use of space once you factor in things like elevators, fire escapes and electrical/mechanical ducting.
The NYC government works at the behest of property developers so this is unlikely to change.
Why do you think the luxury buildings are a "big issue"? People who can move into those buildings will move into them. This frees up the lower priced apartments they previously (or otherwise would have) inhabited.
I wouldn't make the assumption that the people buying luxury units will be moving out of lower-priced units.
In Canada's major cities, for example, we see such luxury and non-luxury units being bought as stores-of-value by wealthy foreigners trying to avoid risk or capital controls, rather than as something to be actively lived in by them or anyone else. Supply is consumed, without any being relinquished.
Even when the owner might reside in such a unit, it ends up being more like a dedicated hotel room for them. They'll simultaneously own luxury residences in other cities and/or countries, and travel between them. Again, supply is consumed (in multiple markets), without any being relinquished.
The luxury market really isn't like the broader housing market.
Because many are used as vacation homes or just money laundering. With wealth inequality at historical world records, the rich can just buy both, and they do. Lol
I lived in Manhattan for 10 years from late 90s into the late 2000s, live in NJ now. A major trend I have seen is NYC skewing more and more towards the rich/ultra rich and ignoring the rich and middle class. We recently visited NYC for the first time in a couple of years, and it seemed like everything was transformed into Gucci and YSL and Bulgari etc etc.
I don’t know how this is sustainable given that Manhattan is an island.
The reason why it's more profitable to do ultra-luxury is that regulations increase fixed costs, which make it less profitable to do projects that would have had lower expected returns, like affordable apartments.
There is way too much ultra-luxury buildings getting built in NYC. It's simply too profitable and there's little to no incentive to build (or convert) apartments normal people can afford.
Another problem for NYC in particular, a lot of the buildings that exist already would be illegal to build now. I get the desire to avoid streets being in constant shadow from surrounding buildings but large footprint buildings are simply a more efficient use of space once you factor in things like elevators, fire escapes and electrical/mechanical ducting.
The NYC government works at the behest of property developers so this is unlikely to change.