New York YIMBY's second-quarter tracking shows 903 new-building permits filed across the city in Q2 2026 — a hard count pulled from DOB filings, not an estimate.

That number matters because new-building permits are the earliest possible signal of where private construction work is headed. A permit filed today usually means excavation or foundation work in six to eighteen months, depending on the project's size and how fast it clears plan review.

903 filings citywide is the kind of baseline number a GC or sub should keep in their back pocket when sizing up a quarter — it's the denominator for every borough breakdown, trade-specific pipeline chart, or seasonal comparison that follows. Compare it against next quarter's count and you get a read on whether the private pipeline is accelerating or cooling before a single crane goes up.

The report itself is the primary source here — it's built from the city's own permit filings, aggregated and published by New York YIMBY. For contractors tracking early-stage work, especially those who chase pre-construction relationships with developers and architects, a citywide filing count is a leading indicator worth checking quarter over quarter, not a one-time read.