Manhattan luxury apartment market surges in month after Mamdani’s win

[NEW YORK] Sales of luxury homes in Manhattan jumped in November, countering fears that the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor would drive out wealthy residents. 

Buyers signed contracts on 176 homes in Manhattan priced at US$4 million or more in November, up 25 per cent from the 141 deals inked the month prior, according to appraiser Miller Samuel and brokerage Douglas Elliman. That included condos at The 74 on the Upper East Side and at 53 West 53rd St on Billionaires’ Row, which were purchased for roughly US$24 million each. 

In the leadup to the city’s mayoral race, critics of Mamdani claimed his election could spur an exodus of rich New Yorkers, a critical tax base whose flight would hurt the city’s finances and property market. But one month after Mamdani’s victory, affluent homebuyers seem unfazed. If anything, the recent stock market rally and generous Wall Street bonuses have prompted more wealthy residents to go home-shopping this fall, according to Donna Olshan, president and founder of Olshan Realty.

“There is no Mamdani effect,” she said. “The idea that people would flee New York was overblown. The numbers just aren’t bearing that out.” 

Her firm’s luxury market report showed that Manhattan buyers signed contracts for 41 homes priced at US$4 million or more in the week of the mayoral election. More than half of those were signed in the days after Mamdani’s victory. 

With little new supply in prime neighbourhoods like the West Village and the Upper West Side, buyers eager not to miss out are still hunting, said Miki Naftali, the chief executive officer of developer Naftali Group. Sales haven’t stopped at any of Naftali’s new developments across Manhattan, where condos go for anywhere from US$3 million to more than US$28 million. 

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“Yes, there is a new mayor, and there are a lot of worries, but our clients are saying, ‘We love New York,’” Naftali said. “There is no slowdown in demand.”

The city’s wealthiest are transacting “in spite of Mamdani,” said Noble Black, a broker at the Corcoran Group. Some remain wary of Mamdani’s proposed taxes on millionaires, but those most concerned have already decamped for lower tax states like Florida. The ones who remain say that they doubt such an ambitious levy will actually happen. 

“The wealthy are bullish on the market and New York in general,” he said. “And if anything, more people are coming back to New York.” BLOOMBERG