Interesting about Hochul, I'll need to read up more. A similar law died in committee in NJ that would allow 50%+vacant office and commercial complexes to be converted to multifamily. Nevertheless, NY is decades late to the party.

I'm certainly a fan of Fulop and he's done great work over there. My understanding is that much of the development has been via redevelopment (i.e. through the Local Housing and Redevelopment Law), which is a distinct statute from the Municipal Land Use Law that typical zoning operates under. The redevelopment law gives the City much more power over what is developed in areas deemed "in need of redevelopment," and can include an affordable-housing set-aside.

That said, JC was late to the main component through which all NJ towns require affordable housing: adopting a city-wide set-aside ordinance where any new development with 5+ residential units must set aside a portion as deed-restricted affordable (often 15% or 20%). I was at an industry event 2 summers ago, and the hosts work closely with Elliot Spitzer (infamous former NYC mayor and real estate developer). He gave the key-note address and explicitly said he prefers working in JC over NYC because JC doesn't require him to allocate for affordable housing.

Regarding the pricing, it's an imperfect indicator that shows both good and bad outcomes. The blend of pandemic migrations, changing preferences, taxes and fees, construction costs, and the intended market for the housing stock all have an effect, among many other things.