Wednesday, July 1, 2026
Tuesday, June 30, 2026
NYC sending out first pied-à-terre tax notices to owners of luxury second homes
The Mamdani administration has unveiled rules for how the city’s new pied-à-terre tax will be enforced — with the first surcharge notices going out in the coming weeks, The Post has learned.
The city Department of Finance will let owners of thousands of luxury secondary residences know they’ve been deemed eligible for the tax by August 30, according to the newly published proposed guidelines.
The DOF has subpoena power and can conduct audits going back six years to determine whether a property should be taxed or exempt.
One-to-3 family homes worth at least $5 million and co-ops and condominiums valued at $1 million or more — that are unoccupied, non-primary residences — would be subject to the surcharge, approved by the state Legislature.
The DOF has subpoena power and can conduct audits going back six years to determine whether a property should be taxed or exempt.
And it can impose a fine equal to 50% of the pied-à-terre tax bill for providing false, inaccurate or misleading information — in a bid to crack down on “gamesmanship” by owners seeking to avoid the levy, according to the rules.
The city particularly highlighted as an example, “a condominium property [that] has been divided into more than three units to avoid application of the surcharge and such division was made in bad faith.”
“This provision would promote compliance with the surcharge by increasing the potential cost of evasion by property owners while ensuring that such property owners are afforded an opportunity to challenge the imposition of such penalties,” the regulation states.
Owners will have 30 days to appeal or challenge the new tax bill imposed on non-primary residences. Appeals would be made to the city’s Tax Commission, or in some cases to the DOF.
The surcharge — part of Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his Democratic Socialists of America comrades’ “tax the rich” crusade — aims to target wealthy people who don’t live in New York City, but own residential property here that sits unoccupied.
City officials estimate the pied-à-terre tax will generate between $340 million and $500 million in annual revenue from approximately 10,000 luxury second homes.
One-to-three family homes will be taxed at a rate of between 0.8% to 1.3% depending on their value, while the rate for co-ops and condos starts at 4% and goes up to 6.5% for those worth over $5 million.
Co-ops and condos are believed to be undervalued, based on the city’s property value assessment system, so the higher rate of tax will allow the city to collect more revenue from them, real estate insiders said.
The DOF is expected to recalculate their value in two years, as part of “phase two” of the tax, which will lapse in 2031 unless the Legislature renews it.
The real estate industry has long opposed the pied-à-terre tax, citing complexity in determining who is covered and collecting it — and insiders said there are sure to be lawsuits contesting the mandate.
Real estate sources note the new tax would be a headache for co-op boards responsible for helping collect the surcharge from a shareholder or owner of an apartment in the building.
“The Department of Finance’s proposed rules highlight the serious challenges of implementing the second-home tax fairly,” said Zachary Steinberg, executive vice president of external relations & advocacy at the Real Estate Board of New York.
“As the City rushes to roll out this new tax, many New Yorkers—particularly cooperative apartment owners who were never intended to be affected—may be hit with unexpected tax bills and little time to appeal,” the REBNY rep added.
The rules go into effect after the public comment period closes July 9.
Most comments thus far favor the pied-a-terre tax, but there are naysayers.
“Communism at its finest. This law will ensure that anyone with a second home here will be driven out of NYC if they have not already left. You are chasing your tax bases away,” one anonymous response said.
But Mohamed Fathelbab, a licensed real estate agent said, “I’m telling you all, this tax will not chase a single multimillionaire or billionaire away from the city. And the revenue that’ll come in will be of great benefit.”
Billionaire hedge fund honcho Ken Griffin’s city property tax bill is reportedly estimated to go up about $1.3 to $1.4 million under the new tax, approved by Gov. Kathy Hochul and Albany lawmakers at the behest of Mamdani to help fill city coffers.
The democratic socialist Mamdani caused a stir when he singled out the Citadel founder’s penthouse as eligible for the tax in a viral video filmed outside the residence.
Sunday, June 28, 2026
REBNY touts ‘strong’ Manhattan retail recovery — despite empty storefronts
The Real Estate Board of New York just put out its first-quarter Manhattan retail report and, as is often the case, its main finding — that “strong retail recovery continues” — is hard to argue with overall.
Although not in the REBNY survey, luxury jeweler David Yurman will launch a 22,000 square-foot flagship store at 685 Fifth Ave., as reported by WWD. That location is currently leased to Coach, which plans to move to nearby 645 Fifth later this year.
The moves substantiate what Cushman & Wakefield’s Steven Soutendijk told us a few weeks ago — that deals are pending for nearly all the large, currently dark Fifth Avenue storefronts and will likely be announced by year’s end. (Soutendijk isn’t involved in the Yurman or Coach deals.)
Among the mostly favorable trends in the REBNY survey:
Only one, tiny storefront is available on the prime stretch of Bleecker Street between Seventh Avenue South and Hudson Street — driving retailers to nearby alternatives such as West Street.
- Fifth Avenue in Flatiron “emerged as a top choice for brands new to the city” — e.g., Canada’s Garage and Cozey took over the former Club Monaco at 160 Fifth.
- Madison Avenue north of East 57th Street is so popular with Italian fashion brands, there’s almost no locations left for them. So they’re opening on nearby side streets, like Milan-based LDJ (La DoubleJ) filling a whole townhouse at 18 E. 69th St.
- Herald Square average asking rents rose from $383 in the second half of 2025 to $412 currently, reflecting greater demand by larger stores such as a 40,000 square-foot TJ Maxx at Herald Towers, as we first reported.
- Times Square continues to draw non-entertainment used such as Nan Xiang Dumplings in the entire former TGI Fridays at 147 W. 46th St.
- At the same time, the survey’s limitations are clear to anyone out for a stroll. One reason is that while REBNY’s “corridor trends” omit well-trafficked avenues such as Midtown Sixth Avenue.
Certain large, high-visibility storefronts there have stood vacant for years, even though their landlords are tapped some of the city’s most powerful retail brokers to find tenants — such as the former Gap space 1212 Sixth Ave. between West 47th and West 48th streets.
Nor does the REBNY survey include Fifth Avenue between East 34th and East 42nd Street. Forgive our skepticism over a supposed retail-leasing recovery when, for example, nearly the whole east blockfront between 38th and 39th streets is vacant — right across from the Amazon-owned former Lord & Taylor store and just-opened food court Shaver Hall.
Can’t pay, won’t pay: Why are rent collections down in affordable housing?
That was a tweet from Politico earlier this week, one that got a good amount of attention.
It was related to a story they published about affordable housing operators and data showing they are collecting less in rent.
I similarly wrote about this subject for our January magazine. This is a pertinent issue that affects how affordable housing operators are able to stay in the black. But it’s also an interesting social question that potentially illuminates just how the rental and affordable housing systems work in New York.
As Politico said, no one has a smoking gun showing exactly why collections have dropped. But here are a few theories that came up in my reporting:
- Tenants are in a tight squeeze.
Everyone I spoke with, even on the landlord side, said they believe affordable housing residents are having a harder time making ends meet.
This was a population that largely works in-person and was hit hard economically by Covid. That’s when collections dropped precipitously. And though they’ve recovered substantially, they’re still several percentage points behind pre-pandemic levels.
- The pandemic shifted how people think about rent
This is where you start getting into some armchair sociology. But there’s one idea out there, basically untestable, that pandemic-era rental assistance and eviction moratoriums made people stop putting paying rent above other needs.
Robert Riggs, of Community Preservation Corp., told me that the lender has seen incredibly variable collections across its portfolio. In some cases, one building will have incredibly low collections while another, seemingly no different, is seeing high collections. Are tenants observing one neighbor not paying the full amount and staying in their home? It’s hard to say, but this is one idea.
- City policy incentivizes going deeper into arrears
It’s in the city’s best interest to keep people housed, so the city helps people financially with their rent.
But it prioritizes those in the deepest need — deep in arrears and about to be evicted. Affordable housing operators told me that tenants who need a little help don’t get it, and they end up, intentionally or not, getting help when they are deeply in trouble.
“They kind of have to roll their dice out to the edge,” said John Crotty, of Workforce Housing Group. “Which is awful, right? But they won’t help you unless you’re in that position.”
A thing we’ve learned: Dev Awasthi is no longer vice president of legislative affairs at the Real Estate Board of New York after Politico reporter Jason Beeferman posted video footage of a man who appeared to be Awasthi tearing down Jack Schlossberg campaign signs.
Elsewhere:
— Legal Services NYC says supportive housing providers are ignoring guidance from the Mamdani administration to ease up on evictions, reports Gothamist. Now, they’re calling for a 90-day pause on all eviction cases.
— There were 278,000 immediately hazardous housing code violations in 2025, down slightly from 2024, but more than double the number in 2018, reports New York Focus. This data comes months after Mamdani’s pledge to crack down on building mismanagement.
Mamdani’s on a quest to kill NYC’s free market housing — the rent freeze is step one
by Michael Goodwin
After Mayor Mamdani promised to freeze rents for two years in nearly a million rent-stabilized apartments, the lefties on the Rent Guidelines Board saluted and delivered for him.
Here is some of how he gloated afterward:
“This is a historic victory for New York City tenants. After reviewing the data and hearing from New Yorkers across the city, the independent RGB has delivered a freeze on one-year leases, and the first-ever freeze on two- year leases in our city’s history. This is the relief that working people across our city deserve.”
He also vowed that, “I’ll continue working to deliver a more affordable city by building and preserving affordable housing, lowering building operating costs like insurance, and ensuring tenants know their rights.”
In plain English, he’s warning that private-sector owners must realize they have no rights to cover their costs, let alone to make a profit.
And oh, by the way, developers shouldn’t even think of building rental units here. The free housing market in New York is dead.
Long live the revolution!
Saturday, June 27, 2026
Mamdani’s rent freeze means big trouble for MOST tenants, and maybe for ALL
Mayor Zohran Mamdani won office vowing to freeze rents and now he’s delivered — for some renters, with a ham-handed “victory” that will force big hikes for other renters and risks getting the rent laws nixed by the US Supreme Court.
Like every mayor before him, Mamdani’s named a majority of the supposedly independent Rent Guidelines Board, which each year sets allowed hikes on one- and two-year leases for the city’s 1 million regulated units; unlike all them until now, he had his handpicked toadies ram through zero increases on all leases — at a time when the RGB’s own staff says landlords’ costs (which the board is supposed to consider) are rising far faster than inflation.
We’ve written at length on the troubles this means in buildings that are mostly rent-regulated: no money for maintenance; buildings forced into bankruptcy or forced sale to slumlords or incompetents.
But it doesn’t stop there.
In complexes with a good number of non-regulated units, landlords will hike rents on those apartments to cover their costs, especially on newly-vacant ones; market-rate rents will soar, making them even less affordable for anyone trying to move here.
Oh, and anyone with a good deal will stay if they can (maybe subletting illegally to great profit), meaning fewer vacancies than ever even in the rent-regulated market.
Gotham’s rent inequities will get worse.
Lots of Mamdani voters are in for an unpleasant surprise.
Note that the rent laws aren’t truly all that progressive to start with: More than a third of rent-regged apartments are occupied by single adults with no children; about 30% of tenants make over $100,000 a year, well above median income.
The ham-handed RGB move will certainly bring court challenges, and practically begs the Supremes to toss the rent laws completely.
The justices aren’t eager to do that: In the past, they’ve ruled that the laws are not an unconstitutional taking because nonpartisan experts play an important role in RGB decisions, so this (arguably) is not a process where politicians just do as they please.
Oops: Ahead of Thursday’s meeting, Christina Smyth, named to the RGB to speak for landlords, quit in protest, ripping the process as “theater” that ignored rising building and insurance costs for property owners.
Plus, the mayor’s Democratic Socialists of America cronies crowed: “Just days after our candidates sweep their elections, we’re going to deliver a rent freeze for millions of New Yorkers!”
These are damning facts to raise with the Supremes; what an irony if Mamdani goes down in history as the mayor who killed rent control.