Housing in Newark Research Brief: Status and Trends, 2000-2015
David D. Troutt and Cristina Garmendia
November 2017
The City of Newark is undergoing rapid transition, with creative political leadership and development cranes dotting its sky. In February 2016, CLiME launched a comprehensive study of housing trends in the City. In May 2016, CLiME led a Rutgers University-Newark anchor initiative that researching laws and policies that might promote more equitable growth in the City as it changes. This Housing Research Brief represents the first installment of our almost year-long work. It provides quantitative snapshots of key variables in Newark’s housing dynamics, some of which have not been publicly reported for several years. The Brief will be followed in January 2018 by the more comprehensive Study of Housing and Equitable Growth in Newark publication, which will include not only the data but analyses of legal trends, policy concerns and a host of recommendations and their rationales for building a stronger, more equitable Newark for all of its residents, now and in the future.
The primary finding that governs all the remaining analyses is that, like many U.S. cities, Newark is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis. The Brief proceeds in six parts: renter trends, overall housing market trends, current asking rents, home value trends, subsidized housing and rent control. The Brief concludes with the CLiME Displacement Risk Indicators Matrix, summarizing these data in a risk analysis.
Newark housing in context
The City of Newark has approximately 110,000 housing units in 30,760 residential buildings.
Newark has one of the highest share of renters among large U.S. cities, at 78%, second only to Bronx, NY.
60% of all renters in Newark (41,000 households) are rent-burdened.
57% of homeowners in Newark are mortgage-burdened.
Newark has lost 3,300 homeowners in 5 years.
In the current rental market, the average asking rent in Newark is $1,410.
In the past year, the average sales price of a home in Newark was $219,000.
Newark is a city deep in the midst of an affordability crisis. The risk of displacement –even in the absence of traditional gentrification – is real for most Newarkers.
Continue reading this report in its entirety below:
Housing in Newark Research Brief: Status and Trends, 2000-2015