NY Lawmakers Approve Final Budget That Includes Second-Home Tax

Summary

Bloomberg Businessweek – Episode Summary

Episode Title: NY Lawmakers Approve Final Budget That Includes Second-Home Tax
Date: June 15, 2026
Hosts: Carol Massar & Tim Stenovec
Guest: Lisa Lipman, Top Real Estate Agent, Brown Harris Stevens

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Episode Overview

This episode zeroes in on the shifting dynamics and fresh policies in the New York City real estate market, particularly in the wake of a newly approved New York state budget that includes a high-profile "second-home" (pied-à-terre) tax. Hosts Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec invite high-producing Manhattan broker Lisa Lipman to share her on-the-ground perspective. The discussion ranges from macroeconomic market trends, migration patterns, and buyer demographics to the real impact of government policy on the luxury real estate sector.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

NYC Housing Market Trends and Recent Performance

• Host Introduction (01:44–02:17):

  • US homebuilder confidence fell in June due to high mortgage rates and material costs, with the South hit hardest.
  • Curiosity about NYC real estate amidst hot national and regional shifts.

• Lisa Lipman’s 2025 Record ($500+ million in transactions)

  • Lipman’s banner year explained: Repeat business at higher price points, a few large deals, and personal life changes (03:01–03:50).

    "Last year was a really big year ... I guess I thought maybe I'd pick up the guitar or mahjong or something, but I just worked more, so I did it." — Lisa Lipman (03:30)

  • Expectations for 2026: Anticipates a return to historically “good” (but not stratospheric) sales volumes due to team size and market dynamics (03:52–04:50).

Luxury vs. Mainstream Buyer Behavior

• Interest Rates and High-End Purchasing (04:50–06:13):
  • Wealthy buyers (above $7–8 million) are mostly cash buyers; interest rates matter only for negotiating leverage, not for their actual need to finance.

    “Generally when you're talking about over seven or eight million dollars purchases, interest rates become basically immaterial ... Does it actually matter? No, because they were never going to finance. But they do think about it.” — Lisa Lipman (05:12)

Migration & Buyer Demographics

• Outbound vs. Inbound Patterns (06:14–08:18):

  • No evident net exodus from NYC; as many people moving in as moving out, “maybe more.”
  • New trends:
    1. Wealth transfer: Well-off inheritors opt to remain in NYC for lifestyle and convenience.
    2. Suburban parents buy NYC property to stay near adult children and grandchildren in the city.

    “I see just as much, just as many, excuse me, people coming into New York as leaving New York. Maybe more.” — Lisa Lipman (06:42)
    “Those people maybe used to move to the suburbs more, but now they realize ... the life balance of not having to commute and having the wealth to have a beautiful home in New York and also outside of New York..." (07:20)

• Cyclical Market Resilience (08:18–09:17):

  • Parallels drawn between 9/11, the financial crisis, and Covid; New York’s resilience highlighted.

    “After 9/11, we showed our city to be incredibly resilient. And after Covid, we also showed our city to be incredibly resilient.” — Lisa Lipman (08:31)

Outer Boroughs and Emerging “Hot” Areas

• Brooklyn and Beyond (09:17–10:46):
  • Brooklyn no longer considered a “deal;” real value is in places like Queens, Long Island City, Jersey City, Hoboken, Riverdale.

    “I don't even consider Brooklyn, like, a more affordable option anymore, which is crazy. Maybe you get more space, but, you know, definitely Brooklyn is hot.” — Lisa Lipman (09:56) "I actually think Riverdale is a great option because these are places that are still semi urban. You don't necessarily need a car, and you get so much more for your money." (10:23)

  • Host’s personal anecdote about booming Jersey City and changing neighborhood dynamics (10:47–11:20).

Foreign Buyers

• Changes in International Demand (11:20–12:04):
  • Not as many foreign buyers as in past years; Russian and Chinese demand has fallen.
  • Ongoing strong interest from South America, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, Europe.

    “We don't have as many foreign buyers as we have. And that's because some of the Asian buyers have had trouble taking money out of ... China ... We lost our Russian buyers a while ago. We still have buyers coming from South America a lot.” — Lisa Lipman (11:20) “I actually think that's a lot healthier for our market. We have a lot of wealthy Americans buying now, and we have enough foreign buyers who do want to have places here.” (11:48)

Policy & Politics: The New Pied-à-Terre Tax

• Mamdani Administration & Second-Home Tax (12:04–13:36):
  • Lisa perceives NYC as “mayor-proof,” difficult to affect fundamentally for at least four years.
  • The newly legislated pied-à-terre (second-home) tax initially caused nervousness—a “chill factor”—but once details were released, the market activity quickly bounced back.

    “Certain policies have made people nervous, like the new pied à terre tax ... The unknown is always much worse than just knowing what it is, figuring out how to deal with it. ... As soon as it was put into writing ... the market turned back on again.” — Lisa Lipman (12:13)

  • Lipman’s critique: The tax is too complicated to implement effectively; predicted to be unworkable in practice.

    “I think that the law is too complicated and it's never going to be able to be implemented or followed through. And they will not collect any money.” (13:20)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On blockbuster sales years:

  “I guess I thought maybe I'd pick up the guitar or mahjong or something, but I just worked more, so I did it.” — Lisa Lipman (03:30)

• On luxury buyers and interest rates:

  “They feel that they should have more buying power as a cash buyer because interest rates are higher and they're not wrong.” — Lisa Lipman (05:12)
  “Does it actually matter? No, because they were never going to finance.” — Lisa Lipman (05:23)

• On pandemic and NYC resilience:

  “After 9/11, we showed our city to be incredibly resilient. And after Covid, we also showed our city to be incredibly resilient ... people just love New York.” — Lisa Lipman (08:31–09:17)

• On the second-home tax and political anxiety:

  “The unknown is always much worse than just knowing what it is, figuring out how to deal with it.” — Lisa Lipman (12:22)
  “I think that the law is too complicated and it's never going to be able to be implemented or followed through. And they will not collect any money.” (13:20)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• NY housing market context & Lipman's career: 01:44–03:50
• Discussion of 2026 market outlook: 03:52–04:50
• Impact of interest rates on luxury buyers: 04:50–06:13
• Client demographics & migration: 06:14–08:18
• NYC resilience across crises: 08:18–09:17
• Outer boroughs and new urban hotspots: 09:17–10:46
• Foreign buyer trends: 11:20–12:04
• Political context & second-home tax implications: 12:04–13:36

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Summary Takeaway

This episode provides a high-level yet practical insider’s view of New York’s residential real estate market in 2026, highlighting resilience, shifting demographics, and the limited effects of new political measures—especially the highly debated pied-à-terre tax. For wealthy buyers, local movement and generational wealth transfers drive demand; interest rates matter mostly as a negotiating tool, not as a barrier. Even as foreign investment flows change, the market remains robust, with the city’s gravitational pull as strong as ever. And despite new regulations, both industry insiders and buyers seem ready to adapt rather than retreat.

Transcript

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[Bloomberg Host]

Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio news.

[Carol Massar]

You're listening to Bloomberg Businessweek with Carol Massar and Tim Stanvak on Bloomberg Radio. Confidence among US homebuilders slipped in June, dragged down by rising mortgage rates, materials costs. A sharp drop in sentiment across the South. Let's talk about that index of overall market conditions from the national association of Homebuilders and Wells Fargo. It fell 2 points to 35 this month. That's according to data released on Monday. It's lower, Carol, in the 37 anticipated by economists in a Bloomberg survey. The south this is interesting. It's the nation's largest homebuilding region, saw its biggest decline going back to November 2023.

[Bloomberg Host]

I'm not surprised because it's gotten a little overheated in certain certainly in the Southeast in some markets. Hey, we are curious, though, about what's going on in New York City. It's a real estate market we're all obsessed with. A story comes across the Bloomberg about real estate in it is among the most read. For more, we're joined by Lisa Lipman. She's a real estate agent with Brown Harris Stevens. She's been in the industry for nearly three decades. Had more than $500 million in transaction volume in 2025 alone.

[Podcast Narrator]

What?

[Bloomberg Host]

Oh, my God. She's here. In studio, our Bloomberg Interactive broker studio.

[Carol Massar]

That's a.

[Bloomberg Host]

Is that a lot?

[Carol Massar]

That's a ton.

[Bloomberg Host]

It feels like a ton.

[Lisa Lipman]

It's a lot. I mean, you know, I've been the number one person at Brown Harris for 11 years in a row.

[Bloomberg Host]

Congratulations.

[Lisa Lipman]

Thank you.

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And.

[Lisa Lipman]

And in prior years, I was doing someplace between 210 and 290, 300 million per year. Last year was a really big year. I think partially. It's sort of the progression of time. Right. So I have a lot of repeat business. The people get wealthier. They come back to me at higher price points. You work in that price point, more people in that price point come to you. And then I also had a couple of really large sales that contributed to it. And I worked really, really hard. Last year I became an empty nester. The fall of 2024, my youngest child went away. He actually did a gap year. And, you know, it just. I guess I thought maybe I'd pick up the guitar or mahjong or something, but I just worked more, so I did it.

[Carol Massar]

How's this year looking?

[Lisa Lipman]

This year is definitely headed in the right direction. I honestly, like, I. I don't ever think I'm going to do that volume again. And, you know, in some ways I say that's okay with me. Of course it would be great to do it. But I do think that last year was a bit anomalous because I'm one person. I have a very small team. It's only five of us. So, you know, you do see those large numbers with agents who have very large teams. You sometimes see those numbers with agents who sit on big buildings where they're selling only really expensive big listings. Having said that, they don't get paid necessarily on that volume. And you should know that because it's sometimes, you know, you're selling 700 million worth of business, but the commission on it is very low because they struck

[Carol Massar]

a deal with the developer and they're.

[Lisa Lipman]

And you're dividing amongst five other agents who are on the building. So, you know, last year was a really good year for me and I kind of take it as I put money in the bank and it's a great year and I'll probably go back to doing my really good years again, but not that are any of.

[Bloomberg Host]

Okay. So when you're dealing with, you know, wealthier individuals, do they care about the Interest rate, like do things like that matter? Are they doing mostly cash deals? Like, I'm just curious because a lot of times when we talk about the housing market and generally, or the real estate market, when it comes to purchasing, certainly for like first time homebuyers, we watch what's going on in the rates market. Does it matter to a lot of your clientele?

[Lisa Lipman]

So, you know, generally when you're talking about over seven or eight million dollars purchases, interest rates become basically immaterial. And I say basically because, you know, people who are spending over 8, $10 million know what's going on. Right. They're very much in the business world. So when they're negotiating, when they're making a deal, they're going to think about the fact that interest rates are higher. So they feel that they should have more buying power as a cash buyer because interest rates are higher and they're not wrong. So anecdotally it matters. Does it actually matter? No, because they were never going to finance. But they do think about it. And of course it changes the equation because, you know, when interest rates were very low, we had people spending over 8 or 10 million dollars who were really financing a very large portion. And now the people spending that kind of money are really just cash buyers.

[Bloomberg Host]

Interesting. That's because money didn't cost them anything a few years ago, right?

[Lisa Lipman]

Correct. And you know, maybe interest rates were too low.

[Bloomberg Host]

Yeah, yeah.

[Carol Massar]

So I'm curious about just, just migration patterns that you're seeing right now among the folks who buy and sell with you. If we were having this conversation in 2020, 2021, I imagine some of it would be okay. Well, people are leaving the city, they're going to the suburbs, some are going to Florida. There was that great Wall Street Journal story a few months ago, or no, a few weeks ago that was like. Well, actually the people who are moving to Florida are still keeping apartments here in New York because they have their relationship with their doctors. I thought that was kind of funny. What are the migration patterns that you're seeing among your clientele?

[Lisa Lipman]

I see just as much, just as many, excuse me, people coming into New York as leaving New York. Maybe more. I mean, I don't count them, but I don't see a migration pattern away from New York City.

[Carol Massar]

Who's coming to New York right now among your clientele? Okay, again, anecdotal, but yeah.

[Lisa Lipman]

No. So we've seen a really something happened in the last few years which two things happened, which I sort of saw coming. One was the transfer of wealth from people over 70 years old to their adult children. Those children have done very nicely on their own. And then they've been given a lot of money, any place, from a $10 million trust fund all the way up. Those people often want to stay in New York City, and they have big buying power. So those people maybe used to move to the suburbs more, but now they realize that the life balance of not having to commute and having the we wealth to have a beautiful home in New York and also outside of New York allows them to stay in New York City. Cost of private school doesn't keep them away, none of that stuff. So that's one group that I'm really seeing staying in New York. The other group that's a new group coming and I sort of saw this happening, was people who brought their kids up in other places. And I don't just mean the suburbs. I mean other places like Minneapolis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago. Their adult children then move to New York after college and stay here and put roots down here and have grandchildren for them here. And those people are buying second or third homes in New York City because they want to be near their kids and their grandkids. And I've sold a whole bunch of properties like that to people like that.

[Bloomberg Host]

Yeah, I mean, that's fascinating. I mean, what do you make? Because just think about going back to Covid, right? Obviously, very tough time. And people are saying, okay, that's it, New York. Everybody's leaving New York. I mean, we see cycles, right? And people come back.

[Lisa Lipman]

We see cycles. Look, I worked through 9 11. I worked through the financial crisis, and then the latest was Covid. And you know, in many ways, 911 and Covid were the most similar because they were both sort of the crises of do I want to live in a city close to lots of people that doesn't. That doesn't feel safe to me. And the truth is, is that I think after 9 11, we showed our city to be incredibly resilient. And after Covid, we also showed our city to be incredibly resilient. I remember for the first sort of year after Covid hit, you'd go to other places in the US and people wouldn't wear their masks and they didn't observe all the social distancing in New York City. Everybody did. We all took care of each other. And I thought that was going to be a good sign. And I think, you know, people just love New York.

[Carol Massar]

Yeah, it's pretty. You mentioned those, the three events that you worked. You know, there are those Are like, before and after moments. Right, right. Like 9, 11, great financial crisis, Covid. Like, those are moments in downtown New York after nine where everything changed. Yeah, repeatedly. And New York has. Has not just survived, but. But thrived. One thing that's also happened in the last 15 years or so is the rise of the outer boroughs. And I'm curious what you're seeing from clientele who in the past may have said, oh, we're only considering Manhattan, are now, you know, looking at Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, those sorts of places. Well, I guess Brooklyn Heights has always kind of been like that, but now it's moving more toward other parts of Brooklyn.

[Lisa Lipman]

Right. So all of Brooklyn basically has become hot. So I don't even consider Brooklyn, like, a more affordable option anymore, which is crazy. Maybe you get more space, but, you know, definitely Brooklyn is hot. And I really encourage people, and I don't sell in any other place besides Manhattan. A little bit of Brooklyn. But I do encourage people to go to places like Queens, Long Island City, even, you know, know, Jersey City, places like that, Hoboken. I actually think Riverdale is a great option because these are places that are still semi urban. You don't necessarily need a car, and you get so much more for your money. And I really do think that they are the wave of the future. I mean, in places like in New Jersey, in Riverdale, in Long Island City, you get a view of the water.

[Carol Massar]

Yeah, Jersey City and Hoboken right now are hot.

[Bloomberg Host]

Listen.

[Lisa Lipman]

And they're charming. Yeah, they're great. I see why people want to live there.

[Bloomberg Host]

Yeah, it's. Listen, you're just outside New York City. I live in Jersey City, and I've been there for a long time.

[Carol Massar]

Has it changed since you've been there?

[Bloomberg Host]

Oh, dramatically. We've been there a long time. And I mean, I remember when, you know, Target came in and it was like a celebration because there wasn't a lot of retail and stuff. It's actually really, really crowded right now, and it's a little crazy. So, okay, what about foreign buyers? Are they here? Have they gone? Feels like we haven't seen a ton in the last few years.

[Lisa Lipman]

So we don't have as many foreign buyers as we have. And that's because some of the Asian buyers have had trouble taking money out of, let's say, China. That's one thing. Obviously, we lost our Russian buyers a while ago.

[Bloomberg Host]

Right.

[Lisa Lipman]

We still have buyers coming from South America a lot. We have buyers coming from Singapore, from Taiwan, from Korea, and then we have some European buyers You know, it doesn't fuel our market the way the, you know, the sort of quote unquote Russian and Asian billionaire buyers did for a while. But I actually think that's a lot healthier for our market. We have a lot of wealthy Americans buying now, and we have enough foreign buyers who do want to have places here.

[Carol Massar]

What have been the changes that you've seen under the Mamdani administration? We're only a few months in, but I was having this conversation with some friends earlier today. What do you see?

[Lisa Lipman]

So I don't see a big change, number one. I'll just say that I think that our city is somewhat mayor proof for at least four years, perhaps close to eight. So, you know, we've had better mayors. We've had worse mayors, better for the economy, worse for the economy, for safety. And we've survived and we've thrived. So, you know, time will tell what will happen with Mamdani. I think that, you know, certain policies have made people nervous, like the new pied a terror tax that one was, until they sort of said what it was going to be. It made people really nervous because the unknown is always much worse than just knowing what it is, figuring out how to deal with it. So we did have, I would say, a little bit of a chill factor for a couple of months after it was clear that Hochul and Mamdani were going to push through this pied a terre attacks. As soon as it was put into writing what it was going to be, which was about two weeks ago, the market turned back on again. And I think it's partially because people don't really understand what it is. And I personally, as a former lawyer and as somebody who was married to my first husband, was a tax lawyer, which is the whole science, if you want to call it, of reduction of real property taxes. I think that the law is too complicated and it's never going to be able to be implemented or followed through. And they will not collect any money.

[Carol Massar]

Lisa, we're going to have to leave it there. Lisa Lippman. She's a real estate agent with Brown Harris Stevens. You're watching and listening to Bloomberg Businessweek Daily.

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