Roxana Baiceanu 
One of the (very) early signs that new construction is about to start is that old buildings are being demolished. In New York City, the total number of demolition permits issued in all boroughs has been on an upward trend, although it’s a slow rise.
NYC Demolition Permits See a 5% Uptick
There were 1,174 demolition permits issued in NYC in 2012, a 5% increase from 2011 and a 13% increase from 2010.
A break down by boroughs shows that in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island numbers are going up.
Brooklyn had 300 demolition permits issued in 2012, which is only a 5% uptick compared to 2011, but a 4-year high since 2008. In the Bronx, there were 105 demolition permits issued in 2012, a 21% increase over 2011, while in Staten Island the numbers jumped even more, marking a 50% increase (197 permits).
However, in Queens and Manhattan demolition permits are slightly down — 5% down in Queens (441 demolition permits) and 10% down in Manhattan (131 demolition permits).
Here’s a map with all the sites that were approved for demolition in 2012:
New Building Permits May Be Leveling Out Soon
Our data indicates that the overall number of new building permits issued for all 5 boroughs is 6% down, from 4,092 permits issued in 2011 to 3,861 in 2012. Compared to 2008, the number is a lot (59%) lower. However, as you can see below, the drop shrank every year since 2008, which could mean that we may soon see a leveling out of the trend.
Take a look at this ski slope trend showing how the number of new building permits changed year after year since 2008:
And there might be another good sign. The number of new building permit applications (those which were filed for the first time in 2012), almost doubled in Manhattan and the Bronx.
Manhattan had 86 new building permit applications issued for the first time in 2012, an 83% spike from 2011 (47 permits). In the Bronx there was a 93% increase, from 93 permits filed in 2011 to 180 permits in 2012.
