With Mayor's Mansion Tax Looming, How Many Brooklyn Homes Sold for More Than $2 Million?

Mayor de Blasio has proposed a mansion tax on homes sold in New York City for $2 million or over, to help pay for more affordable housing. This is in addition to the New York State mansion tax that is already levied on purchases of $1 million and over.

As it turns out, despite hoopla over ever-escalating home prices in Brooklyn, the proposed tax would affect precious few Brooklyn homes, according to an analysis released Friday by the New York City Independent Budget Office.

In fact, the numbers show, the vast majority of home sales in Brooklyn in the two-year period studied (from 2014 to 2016) were under $1 million.

Feast your eyes on this pie chart:

Here are a few key takeaways:

• Around 4 percent of home sales in Brooklyn from 2014 to 2016 would have qualified for the tax, if it had existed in those years.
• 1,567 homes sold for $2 million or more in that period.
• Citywide, Brooklyn accounted for 13 percent of sales of $2 million or more in the period studied.

If the tax were to be enacted, it would likely affect primarily townhouses and large luxury condos in the prime areas of Brooklyn. Prices are likely to remain fairly stable in the next few years, but there’s a good chance over the next decade many townhouses will rise to the $2 million mark in central Brooklyn.

But for now, the tax isn’t something the majority of buyers in Brooklyn need to worry about, according to the numbers.

Related Stories

• These Were the Most Expensive Homes That Sold in Brooklyn in 2016
• Should New Yorkers Pay an Extra Mansion Tax to Fund Affordable Housing?
• 5 of the Most Over-the-Top and Expensive Mansions on the Brooklyn Market Right Now

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