Are Taxes and Safety Concerns Driving Buyers Away From NYC?

0:00 Speaker 1 Sunday morning. With us today, Suzanne Miller. And she’s been in real estate in New York forever. She’s the founder of Empire State Properties, a boutique real estate firm. And she handles, well, national and international. Well, Suzanne Miller, I mean, give us a reading. How is New York City doing?

0:21 And this is where you live. That’s where I live. And give us the pulse of the situation.

0:27 Speaker 2 Well... Hi, thanks for having me, John. New York right now is not doing very well. The country in large, the listings have accumulated, and the sales are down. Just in the month of September, 5,000 new units in New York hit the market, and the sales activity is down by 20%. So we do have some closings, and the

0:48 prices have not really fallen because of the luxury market, so that’s really skewing it. But the actual sales are completely down. slow down. And a lot of that, I think, is because of the peer-to-tear tax that you’re telling investors and foreigners not to come to New York. You’re not inviting them and you’re penalizing them for the privilege of

1:07 being in New York.

1:08 Speaker 1 I mean, before they decide to buy, they have to scratch their head and say, what am I getting myself into?

1:13 Speaker 2 Yeah, exactly. And what particularly has been hit is the $ 1 to $ 3 million homes. Those are your average homes in New York. And they’ve been, as I said, 20% down in sales closings. The rental market is very busy.

1:25 It’s booming because the office market is doing very well. So people still need a place to live, and they’re renting and they’re not buying. That’s what I’m seeing.

1:32 Speaker 1 Understood. And I know you’re only in the residential. Anything– my experience with going up and down the streets in New York, there’s so many empty commercial stores.

1:44 Speaker 2 Well, the A buildings are all full, and now the retail is still not– it’s better than it was, John. Madison Avenue, Bleeker Street, it’s filling up. It’s doing better than it was. The prices are pretty much held. The big issue is the sales. That seems to be what’s on the table right now, that people are just not investing.

2:02 And New York, who we love, our city that we believe in, people are afraid to buy here. They’re afraid to come here. We’ve got shootings. And it’s got a very bad rep right now, and I’m very concerned.

2:14 Speaker 1 Wow. I mean, anything else you want to tell all New Yorkers?

2:19 Speaker 2 Well, I think that, you know.

2:20 Speaker 1 And all Americans. And, you know, we are international. We’re in 178 countries.

2:26 Speaker 2 Absolutely. Since 2019, the rental laws have really skewed towards the tenants in this city. So in 2019, they passed the Housing Stability and Protection Act. 2024, good cause eviction. 2025, no broker fees. Mamdani, a rent freeze on a million apartments.

2:46 Now the Pierre de Terre tax. What else? So this guy, Jason Haber.

2:50 Speaker 1 Well, I got congestion pricing for our retail stores.

2:53 Speaker 2 Yeah, there you go. So this broker from Compass, his name is Jason Haber. He started a fund last week. It launched and he already has 500,000 members. And what he’s trying to do is, it’s called Built for New York.

3:06 And what he’s trying to do is promote landlords and management companies to dedicate themselves to not just voting in a primary for a Democrat or a Republican. He wants them to vote for an actual person. And he’s hoping that the real estate industry is going to band together and they won’t just vote on primaries because the Democrats,

3:27 let’s face it, once you vote, the primary is what Selects the election. So this is what he’s trying to accomplish now.

3:34 Speaker 1 Isn’t that come with it by a different name, reform voting? It’s called. Where people vote by, I guess, by category or whatever.

3:48 Speaker 2 He’s trying to get the independent voters. And he’s calling it, it’s called Built for New York. It just was launched last week. And he thinks that the independent voters are not getting a say in, They’re voting for party and not the person. Like DSA, for example, there’s 14,000 members.

4:05 Speaker 1 So in other words, right now in the primary, where it’s actually decided who goes to the November election, then you’re either a Republican or a Democrat who can’t vote for anybody else. Exactly. And the independents can’t vote for anybody?

4:23 Speaker 2 Right. And he thinks that’s hurting the real estate industry. Remember, John, you always say... that the real estate taxes are 30% of New York’s budget, and why should they not be treated fairly? So he’s hoping that this will unite the landlords, unite the management companies, unite the brokers, and that they could have a say in what happens in their market.

4:43 Speaker 1 Well, Suzanne Miller, in the real estate industry forever, let’s stay on top of it and keep all our listeners informed, I guess.

4:54 Speaker 2 Yes, thank you, John.

4:54 Speaker 1 Thank you so much.