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https://nypost.com/2021/08/05/nearly-half-of-luxury-units-empty-in-billionaires-row-buildings/ https://nypost.com/2021/08/05/nearly-half-of-luxury-units-em...
by kyawzazaw 4y ago
https://nypost.com/2021/08/05/nearly-half-of-luxury-units-empty-in-billionaires-row-buildings/ https://nypost.com/2021/08/05/nearly-half-of-luxury-units-em...
- dionidium 4y agoSeven buildings. That's not representative of...anything. It's not even worth talking about. And the effects are largely positive for the city, anyway. You've got a few big, empty buildings concentrated on one street where billionaires park their money, pay a bunch of property taxes, and use zero city services. That's an unqualified win.
- lupire 4y ago
- ineptech 4y agoNo idea why you're being downvoted. This meme (rich people buying luxury condos, letting them sit vacant, and then profiting somehow) doesn't make any sense, and that article posted as evidence for it undermines it by depicting those units as being un-rentable due to oversupply in the market.
- EricDeb 4y agoit makes total sense you park your money in an asset that will increase in value over time. you don't need to actively use it.
- ineptech 4y agoAnd in the meantime, they choose not to rent it why? The intuitive answer is: they're hard to rent, because there's way more luxury condos available to be rented than people who want to rent them, and it was a bad investment that the rich person will probably lose money on (if not in absolute dollars, then in comparison to some other property that is desirable to rent). But a lot of people in this thread seem to think it's intentional and rich people have some devious way of making more from a vacant condo than a rented one.
- EricDeb 4y agoNYC has super low property tax. It's a win for no one
- dionidium 4y agoIf I were faced with a situation where the taxes were sub-optimally low, then I would simply raise the taxes, instead of trying to remake the entire concept of private property.
- colinmhayes 4y agoAttracting billionaires is a win. Even if they’re just there for a couple weeks a year they’re providing a lot of prestige.
- sbf501 4y agoIt represents several billions of dollars worth of luxury real estate left vacant, and obscuring central park. If you want to call that "nothing" then there is no reaching you.
- teachrdan 4y agoThere are insane tax breaks these luxury apartments get, too, on the order of a 90% discount. It's not like these properties are generating huge windfalls for city or state government. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/billionaires-get-low-income-tax-breaks-nyc-condo-tower-flna1C6403983 https://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/billionaires-get-lo...
- dionidium 4y agoSure, but they don't cost the city anything, either. They sit empty and the city collects money. Meanwhile, the owners aren't even there and use zero city services. Should those taxes be higher? Fine with me! But these apartments are a low-salience/high-visibility distraction. They have hardly anything to do with the issues in the broader housing market.
- kyawzazaw 4y agoActually they do. They influence the mindset and strategy of developers.