The study, "Cities in Transition," focuses on 30 municipalitiesdefined by the HCDNNJ as, "showing multiple signs of fiscal andsocioeconomic distress." According to the report, those 30 citiesaccounted for just 5.9% of residential building permits issuedbetween 1990 and 1999. Between 2000 and 2005, however, "thesecities experienced a rebound, contributing 14% of the state'sresidential building permits."

Among the other findings: overall average annual building permitactivity in the 30 cities in 2000-2005 was more than triple theannual activity in 1990-1999. In contrast, annual activity in therest of the state was only 28% higher period-to-period. Also, threeof the state's largest cities, Newark, Jersey City and Elizabethranked in the top 10 statewide in terms of activity, ranking first,second and ninth respectively in 2000-2005. In the 1990-1990period, they ranked eighth, 20th and 124th.

Overall, 27 of the 30 cities studied saw annual building permitactivity increase from period-to-period. Even Trenton, one of thethree showing no increase, appears poised to do so, the reportsays. The capital city will "join the redevelopment wave with theimpending opening of the newly renovated Broad Street Bankbuilding," the report points out. "In one stroke, its 124 newresidential units will nearly equal the total of 153 residentialbuilding permits issued in Trenton in the entire decade of the1990s."