Brooklyn Brownstoners Pay Lowest Property Taxes
Homeowners in Brownstone Brooklyn can find plenty of things to gripe about, but property taxes ain’t one of them. Along with members of other affluent neighborhoods around the city, Brooklyn brownstoners benefit from assessment caps that have kept taxes low while real estate prices have skyrocketed. A recent study by the city’s Independent Budget Office…
Homeowners in Brownstone Brooklyn can find plenty of things to gripe about, but property taxes ain’t one of them. Along with members of other affluent neighborhoods around the city, Brooklyn brownstoners benefit from assessment caps that have kept taxes low while real estate prices have skyrocketed. A recent study by the city’s Independent Budget Office found that owners of houses in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens have the lowest effective tax rate in the five boroughs. While one-, two- and three-family homes account for 41 percent of the market value of all city property, they generate less than 14 percent of property tax revenues. Rental buildings, on the other hand, get hit much harder than houses, co-ops or condos. When we renovated our house, the property taxes doubled from about $2,400 to about $4,800, or about $1 per square foot per year. How does that compare to what you’re paying?
Tax Breaks Seem to Favor Affluent Areas [NY Times]
Large Share of Property Taxes Borne by Rentals [NY Sun]
Photo from Dahl’s House
RE: “It is the 421a tax breaks that are cheating the city of tax income not small brooklyn homeowners.” Get a clue. David has it right. The City loses nothing from the 421A. Over a short period those deferments go out the window and in my opinion is when real estate in NY will tank. All of those expensive apartments will now have higher taxes while the bleeding heart, we built our neighborhood brownstoners are still getting a free ride.
1:37, I posted at 1:28. My c of o is a legal three family but the tax office still has it as a four. I don’t have to change the c of o, just change the tax status by bringing a copy of the c of o to the dept. of finance. Should I do it and what are the risks?
1:28… I am too lazy to do the search, but I believe there was an NYT story on homeowners who get absolutely HAMMERED on prop taxes when the C of O changes … something having to do with the fact that the taxes are reassed without a cap in such situations, I think. But I can’t swear to it.
anybody have an answer? I have a legal 3 family (Cof O) that is on the tax rolls as a 4 family, currently paying over five thousand a year in taxes.
Would it be worth applying for class one status (1-3 family units) from class two (4 family and above)? What are the dangers of trying to change classifications? Thanks.
12:29 – actually your analysis is flawed – it will take approximatly 12 years for a Brownstones taxes to double, while at the same time presumably inflation will also be raising the value of the Brownstone itslef thereby leaving the tax:value ratio nearly as skewed after the doubling as it is now.
However in 15 years a new 421a condominimum will be paying a tax equal to then current value of the property – (although I acknowedge that IF at that time the value escalates more than 6% a year, the taxes will trail the value of the house.) Of course with the taxes on many condos escalating 300-500% in 8-15yrs, something tells me their value will be seriously effected.
It is really very simple – the city should petition the state to remove escalation caps following a property transfer. However the State may be reluctant to do this b/c the State makes alot from the RE transfer tax and it might be effected by the decline in sale price that a huge jump in taxes may cause.
In my condo, I pay $1/per SqFt WITH the abatement. when my abatement ends, i will be over $6/sq ft… I don’t see why brownstones should have to pay so much less – esp. since I aspire to the brownstone, not to the condo (Though I love my home now)…
I have a 4-fam in CH and pay *ducking now* $.30 a square foot. And *ducking again* I would gladly pay more.
we in bay ridge have higher taxes, we are currently 4K for a 2600sf two family (1910 limestone)….
Something missing from this article:
Property taxes on assesed values can only increase so much each year. The TRUE (eventual) property taxes on $2m brownstones are going to be, eventually, 2x or 3x or more what the current owners are paying. Essentially the recent fast rise in prices out-stripe the ability of the taxes to follow them up.
The rises are graduated in at hardly more than inflation rate. This is the law. Over the longer term (5-10 years, hardly anything in the life of a brownstone), property taxes WILL rise and drive out the cash poor asset rich brownstone owners, or drive them to sub-divide and rent out floors to keep their mansions.