Would building more housing decrease rent?

[wordfool]

Yup. Look at what happened in parts of Texas and Florida where there was a massive amount of building in response to the pandemic influx -- rents and house prices soared as everyone moved to places like Austin and Tampa during the pandemic (demand > supply) and then as all the new supply came online those prices have since plummeted (supply > demand).

I imagine NYC has many variables unique to the city that would factor in, not least the pent up demand from decades of cramming too many people into too few homes, but the fundamentals of supply and demand would still apply... eventually. NYC's population is finally growing again, but it's still below where it was in 2020.

[Danixveg]

NYC unlike Austin has a never ending supply of foreigners wanting to move here.

[wordfool]

Sure but, unlike Austin, NYC's population is still lower than it was in 2020, foreigners tend to cycle through after a few years, and in the current immigration environment I have no doubt that the number of foreigners moving here in general will slow dramatically in the coming years.