New York, New York – every time people try to count it out, it always comes back fighting. And while the battle between New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and billionaire Ken Griffin about the proposed pied-à-terre tax (1) is still in its early rounds, fears of a wealth exodus from the city might be calmed just a bit – at least for now – by some real estate deals that show the rich are still, as always, paying big bucks to live in Manhattan.
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New York realty company Oshan in its luxury market report (2) for May 4 to 10 notes that 36 contracts for apartments worth $4 million or more were signed, seven more than in the previous week (3) and two more than in the week before that. And 10 of those deals closed for over $10 million, while 20 of them were for at least $5 million – the price level at which New York is considering the pied-à-terre tax. The 10 that closed over $10 million compares to 8 during the same time last year (4) – up 25%. Sales of luxury homes overall were up 20% from April 2025 to 2026. And sales of homes over $10 million from the week of April 13 to May 10 totaled 37, compared to 24 during the same time period last year (3) – up 54%.
Flying in the face of a wealth exodus
Now, unless these are second (or third, or fourth) homes, new owners signing contracts for homes worth $5 million or more won’t be subject to the potential tax, which is aimed at non-residents whose places are mostly sitting empty. This would include people like hedge fund manager Griffin, a Florida resident with a significant real estate presence (5) in New York, including the $238 million penthouse that’s received so much attention since Mamdani called it out in his viral Tax Day video (6) introducing the pied-à-terre proposal that could potentially create $500 million a year (1) in revenue for the city. But it does fly in the face of the notion that such taxes might scare the wealthy off (7).
This doesn’t mean that some of them aren’t making noise about it. Griffin himself, who is reportedly worth an estimated $50 billion (8), has not quite pledged to leave New York yet, but he has said he’ll be turning more attention toward his expansion of his firm Citadel’s investment in Miami, where it’s headquartered. Citadel’s COO Gerald Beeson also hinted at a rethinking (9) of its redevelopment plans for a tower at 350 Park Avenue, which Beeson says would create thousands of jobs and involve $6 billion in spending.
“What the mayor of New York has made clear to my partners, and principally my New York partners, is that we need to double down on our bet in Miami,” Griffin said during a Milken Conference (10) interview with CNBC’s Sara Eisen, on May 5.
Is New York City losing its competitive edge?
And Griffin certainly has his backers. Billionaire Bill Ackman, for one, said in an X post that we should be “applauding Ken,” and that wealthy non-residents “already pay a lot of taxes including mansion taxes, real estate taxes, sales taxes and more.” If the wealthiest New Yorkers – even those who don’t live here year-round – leave, Ackman said, high-end development could leave with it…