Signals: What We're Tracking
Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani are proposing a tax on luxury second homes in New York City. The annual tax would apply to homes worth more than $5 million, affecting some 13,000 properties. The pair expect the annual tax to generate $500 million each year. "If you can afford a $5 million second home that sits empty most of the year, you can afford to contribute like every other New Yorker,” Hochul said in a statement. [See what NY's super-rich are saying→]
On another (related?) note, Florida claimed the center of the ultra-luxury market in March, with seven of the country's 10 most expensive home sales closing along its coast. That included the country's most expensive home sale last month: an estate on a Miami island purchased for $170 million by Meta's Mark Zuckerberg. [Read the rest of the list→]
Heard!
"A lot of 22-year-olds are getting $500,000 signing bonuses from AI companies, and they’re excited to buy homes."
— Ali Mafi, a Redfin agent in San Francisco, talking about why the city led all U.S. metros in home price growth this spring, with some homes drawing 20 offers and selling for as much as $900,000 over asking. It's a new class of young, cash-heavy buyers. [Read more →]
Character-rich homes are in demand, according to the new Zillow Buzz Index, which maps features driving the most engagement among 235 million monthly users. According to the ZBI index, homes featuring high-character details like exposed beams saw interest elevate by 20%, closely followed by Victorian architecture (19.3%) and exposed brick (14.9%). [Look at the full results →]
