New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey, 1991 (ICPSR 39414)

Version Date: Sep 18, 2025

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Principal Investigator(s):
Michael A. Stegman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; New York City

Series:

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR39414.v1

Version V1

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Alternate Title

NYCHVS

Summary

The New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (NYCHVS) is a citywide survey designed to be representative of the NYC housing stock and community-dwelling population that is conducted about every three years by the City of New York. The NYCHVS has been conducted since 1965 and is the longest running housing survey in the country. The survey is mandated by New York State and New York City laws to measure the net rental vacancy rate and describe the supply, condition, and continued need for rent control and rent stabilization which covers half of the city's rental housing, or about 1 million apartments and 2.5 million tenants.

Detailed data from the survey cover many characteristics of the New York City housing market, including characteristics of the City's population, household, housing stock, and neighborhoods. Other data include, but is not limited to, rent regulatory and home ownership status; structural conditions; unit maintenance and neighborhood conditions; crowding, rents, utility costs, type of heating fuel, rent/income ratios; owner purchase price and estimated value, mortgage status and interest rate; number of stories and units in building, cooperative/condominium status, and wheelchair accessibility.

The data in this collection are organized by occupied units, vacant units, non-interviews, and individual person records. The 1991 NYCHVS is the 8th survey cycle. Data enable users to estimate various characteristics of housing and the community-dwelling population in New York City.

Citation

Stegman, Michael A., and New York City. New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey, 1991. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-09-18. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR39414.v1

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Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

Sub-borough

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

1991

Date of Collection

1991

Data Collection Notes

  1. For additional details on the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (NYCHVS), please visit the NYC Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Research webpage, which contains links to questionnaires, user guides, and weighting information for the 2021 and 2023 surveys.
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Study Purpose

The purpose of the study is to measure the net rental vacancy rate for New York City's rental stock, as required by law, and describe the supply, condition, and continued need for rent control and rent stabilization.

Study Design

Sampled addresses were assigned to field researchers, who determined whether the housing unit was occupied, vacant, or out of scope (e.g., unit does not exit, is not a housing unit). If interviews could be completed, in-person interviews were conducted by field researchers with knowledgeable adult residents of occupied units, or other knowledgeable informants who could provide information on vacant units.

Sample

The main sample of the survey were selected every decade as a representative sample of housing units across the five New York City boroughs. Additional new units were selected in each subsequent survey year until the next census. Units were selected based on the following sources: the Census Bureau master address file from the most recent census (1990), a sample of addresses resulting from new construction certificates of occupancy issues for each borough, a list of previously nonresidential addresses converted to residential housing units, and housing units located in structures owned by the City because the owner failed to pay taxes on the property. The 1991 survey sampled roughly 18,000 units.

Time Method

Longitudinal: Panel

Universe

  • Housing units in New York City, including occupied and vacant units.
  • Residents of occupied units or, in case of vacant units, knowledgeable informants (e.g., building managers, superintendents, rental or real estate agents).

Unit(s) of Observation

Housing Unit, Individual

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables

Items cover the following topics: demographics, unit characteristics, housing quality, household roster, housing costs, public assistance, income, and employment.

In 1991, the questionnaire was redesigned, replacing the version used from 1975 to 1987. In addition to demographic and income item revisions, all household members were asked demographic items instead of the main respondent only.

Response Rates

The response rate was 95%.

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Original Release Date

2025-09-18

Version History

2025-09-18 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Created variable labels and/or value labels.
  • Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.

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Weight

Person-level weight is APW. Household-level weight is FW.

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Notes