New York City Preconstruction Activity Index
Initial DOB NOW job filings — the filings that open a new job — by borough and neighborhood.
Pipeline composition
44.1% of August's filings opened a new job. Initial job filings fell (6,504 to 5,850) while filings attached to existing jobs rose (6,758 to 7,312).
| Filing class (distinct filings) | Aug 2025 | Aug 2026 |
|---|---|---|
-I1 initial — opens a new DOB job | 6,504 | 5,850 |
-S* subsequent — added scope on an existing job | 2,582 | 3,170 |
-P* post-approval amendments | 3,998 | 3,915 |
-A*/-B*/-C* administrative series | 178 | 227 |
| Unclassified remainder | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 13,300 | 13,252 |
Boroughs
| Borough | 2025 | 2026 | Index |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manhattan | 7,659 | 7,233 | 94.4 |
| Brooklyn | 4,947 | 4,416 | 89.3 |
| Queens | 4,109 | 3,612 | 87.9 |
| Bronx | 1,882 | 1,883 | 100.1 |
| Staten Island | 1,219 | 1,097 | 90.0 |
Ground-up: initial New Building filings
| Borough | 2025 | 2026 | Index |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queens | 165 | 159 | 96.4 |
| Brooklyn | 126 | 120 | 95.2 |
| Bronx | 77 | 89 | 115.6 |
| Staten Island | 76 | 117 | 153.9 |
| Manhattan | 19 | 10 | 52.6 |
Approval processing by work type
53% of the initial filings approved in August were professionally self-certified, approved in a median of 2 days. Because self-certified and standard-plan filings follow different review processes, the work-type comparison below is limited to standard plan examination. Every work type with at least 100 filings in both May cohorts is published, measured at matched 120-day maturity; changes of at least 10 percentage points are highlighted as exploratory findings. These thresholds were fixed in the first edition and are applied unchanged.
| Work type (standard plan examination) | May 2025 | May 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Building | 27.2% (34/125) | 12.8% (15/117) | -14.4 pts |
| Alteration CO | 34.8% (80/230) | 26.5% (56/211) | -8.2 pts |
| Full Demolition | 82.4% (98/119) | 78.0% (99/127) | -4.4 pts |
| Alteration | 87.4% (1991/2277) | 86.3% (1508/1747) | -1.1 pts |
| No Work | 87.8% (187/213) | 87.6% (183/209) | -0.2 pts |
The dataset contains only each filing's current status, so it cannot establish why the remaining filings had not been approved by day 120.
Data: approval by work type (CSV)
Neighborhoods
The CSV carries every area, including the 111 areas below the volume screen and the unmapped Unknown row. An area is a qualified mover only if it carries at least 60 prior-year initial filings, changed by at least 15 filings, and moved the same direction over the preceding six months. All 45 qualified movers are listed below; the edition displays the six largest in each direction.
Qualified movers
| Neighborhood (NTA) | 2025 | 2026 | Index |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elmhurst | 92 | 114 | 123.9 |
| University Heights (South)-Morris Heights | 64 | 79 | 123.4 |
| East Williamsburg | 121 | 149 | 123.1 |
| East Harlem (South) | 83 | 100 | 120.5 |
| Bensonhurst | 123 | 141 | 114.6 |
| Murray Hill-Kips Bay | 207 | 236 | 114.0 |
| Financial District-Battery Park City | 307 | 337 | 109.8 |
| Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill-Gowanus-Red Hook | 256 | 274 | 107.0 |
| Midtown South-Flatiron-Union Square | 558 | 515 | 92.3 |
| Forest Hills | 134 | 117 | 87.3 |
| Lower East Side | 108 | 93 | 86.1 |
| Astoria (North)-Ditmars-Steinway | 98 | 83 | 84.7 |
| Bedford-Stuyvesant (East) | 154 | 129 | 83.8 |
| Bedford-Stuyvesant (West) | 206 | 172 | 83.5 |
| Sheepshead Bay-Manhattan Beach-Gerritsen Beach | 110 | 90 | 81.8 |
| Upper East Side-Carnegie Hill | 650 | 524 | 80.6 |
| South Ozone Park | 160 | 128 | 80.0 |
| Harlem (South) | 129 | 102 | 79.1 |
| West Village | 334 | 264 | 79.0 |
| Crown Heights (North) | 126 | 99 | 78.6 |
| Brooklyn Heights | 145 | 113 | 77.9 |
| St. Albans | 107 | 81 | 75.7 |
| Corona | 67 | 49 | 73.1 |
| East Flatbush-Rugby | 66 | 48 | 72.7 |
| Upper West Side-Lincoln Square | 290 | 210 | 72.4 |
| West New Brighton-Silver Lake-Grymes Hill | 87 | 63 | 72.4 |
| Upper West Side-Manhattan Valley | 131 | 94 | 71.8 |
| Rockaway Beach-Arverne-Edgemere | 67 | 48 | 71.6 |
| Ridgewood | 102 | 72 | 70.6 |
| Chinatown-Two Bridges | 97 | 68 | 70.1 |
| Bellerose | 70 | 49 | 70.0 |
| Park Slope | 266 | 181 | 68.0 |
| Springfield Gardens (South)-Brookville | 61 | 41 | 67.2 |
| Hell's Kitchen | 227 | 152 | 67.0 |
| Rosedale | 62 | 41 | 66.1 |
| Flatlands | 88 | 58 | 65.9 |
| Baisley Park | 100 | 63 | 63.0 |
| Throgs Neck-Schuylerville | 127 | 79 | 62.2 |
| Sunnyside | 120 | 72 | 60.0 |
| Canarsie | 111 | 64 | 57.7 |
| Auburndale | 71 | 41 | 57.7 |
| South Jamaica | 85 | 48 | 56.5 |
| Tottenville-Charleston | 93 | 52 | 55.9 |
| Queensbridge-Ravenswood-Dutch Kills | 85 | 44 | 51.8 |
| Bay Ridge | 181 | 90 | 49.7 |
Largest areas by prior-year volume
The 40 areas with the most prior-year initial filings, whether or not they qualify as movers.
| Neighborhood (NTA) | 2025 | 2026 | Index | Passes mover rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midtown-Times Square | 1,083 | 1,138 | 105.1 | — |
| Upper East Side-Carnegie Hill | 650 | 524 | 80.6 | yes |
| Midtown South-Flatiron-Union Square | 558 | 515 | 92.3 | yes |
| Chelsea-Hudson Yards | 431 | 432 | 100.2 | — |
| East Midtown-Turtle Bay | 375 | 322 | 85.9 | — |
| Upper West Side (Central) | 346 | 340 | 98.3 | — |
| West Village | 334 | 264 | 79.0 | yes |
| SoHo-Little Italy-Hudson Square | 333 | 309 | 92.8 | — |
| Financial District-Battery Park City | 307 | 337 | 109.8 | yes |
| Upper West Side-Lincoln Square | 290 | 210 | 72.4 | yes |
| Park Slope | 266 | 181 | 68.0 | yes |
| Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill-Gowanus-Red Hook | 256 | 274 | 107.0 | yes |
| Greenwich Village | 242 | 239 | 98.8 | — |
| Tribeca-Civic Center | 231 | 204 | 88.3 | — |
| Upper East Side-Lenox Hill-Roosevelt Island | 230 | 216 | 93.9 | — |
| Hell's Kitchen | 227 | 152 | 67.0 | yes |
| Murray Hill-Kips Bay | 207 | 236 | 114.0 | yes |
| Bedford-Stuyvesant (West) | 206 | 172 | 83.5 | yes |
| Williamsburg | 196 | 246 | 125.5 | — |
| East Village | 193 | 200 | 103.6 | — |
| Bay Ridge | 181 | 90 | 49.7 | yes |
| Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill | 170 | 172 | 101.2 | — |
| Gramercy | 162 | 179 | 110.5 | — |
| South Ozone Park | 160 | 128 | 80.0 | yes |
| Upper East Side-Yorkville | 158 | 183 | 115.8 | — |
| Bedford-Stuyvesant (East) | 154 | 129 | 83.8 | yes |
| Sunset Park (West) | 152 | 172 | 113.2 | — |
| Greenpoint | 148 | 141 | 95.3 | — |
| Brooklyn Heights | 145 | 113 | 77.9 | yes |
| Borough Park | 139 | 126 | 90.6 | — |
| Morningside Heights | 135 | 104 | 77.0 | — |
| Annadale-Huguenot-Prince's Bay-Woodrow | 134 | 104 | 77.6 | — |
| Forest Hills | 134 | 117 | 87.3 | yes |
| Upper West Side-Manhattan Valley | 131 | 94 | 71.8 | yes |
| Flushing-Willets Point | 130 | 157 | 120.8 | — |
| Harlem (South) | 129 | 102 | 79.1 | yes |
| Clinton Hill | 128 | 68 | 53.1 | — |
| Throgs Neck-Schuylerville | 127 | 79 | 62.2 | yes |
| Crown Heights (North) | 126 | 99 | 78.6 | yes |
| Bensonhurst | 123 | 141 | 114.6 | yes |
Full tables: neighborhoods (CSV) · boroughs (CSV)
Row-level extracts
The rows behind every table on this page, re-pulled from the city's open-data API with the same filters the edition used, for anyone who wants to check a figure against the source. A fresh pull differs from the frozen edition by a handful of records because the city back-dates its own file; the reconciliation extract lists every headline figure both ways, with the delta, rather than hiding it. Same CC BY 4.0 licence as the tables.
Extracts: initial filings, June to August, both years (CSV) · New Building initials by borough (CSV) · May cohorts, approval within 120 days (CSV) · reconciliation: published figure, fresh pull, delta (CSV) · manifest: pull time, dataset, exact query per file (CSV)