_WHAT’S HAPPENING_
Manhattan rents hit an all-time high of $6,655 per month in August, a 10 percent jump from last year.
The surge comes as socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani's (D) rent freeze on stabilized units takes effect on October 1, alongside a new pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes — a combination that could drive even more property owners to flee to Florida and other lower-tax states.
_THE FACTS_
A three-bedroom apartment now runs $12,228/month (up 12 percent); two-bedrooms jumped to $8,054 (up 13 percent), both records.
About 57,000 rent-stabilized apartments sat empty in 2025, roughly 5.6 percent of total stock.
Manhattan lost $922 million in adjusted income as high earners fled, despite attracting more new tax filers than any US county.
New York's share of millionaires plummeted from 12.7 percent in 2010 to 8.7 percent in 2022, the largest decline of any state.
Had NY maintained its millionaire share, tax collections would have been roughly $10.7 billion higher in 2022 alone.
High-income earners are relocating primarily to Florida and Texas, both low-tax states run by Republicans.
Over 300,000 New Yorkers left for Florida from 2019-2023.
Mamdani's pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes is set to push additional wealthy buyers into the already-crushed rental pool.
The mayor’s plan to seize property from “negligent” landlords threatens to reduce housing supply and drive up costs.
_OUR TAKE_
Mamdani ran on making New York affordable, but his rent freeze only locks in rates for about a million stabilized apartments — it does nothing for market-rate renters already stuck paying record-high costs.
Landlords who can't raise rent make up the loss by charging market-rate tenants more, and that's exactly what's driving the recent price surge. And since tenants in cheap, locked-in apartments have no reason to ever move out, fewer units open up, making it even harder for everyone else to find a place.
