THE INVISIBLE ENGINE: 2018 Economic Impact of New York City’s Real Estate Industry
January 1, 2019
NEW YORK CITY REAL ESTATE RELATED TAXES FY 2018:
CONTRIBUTION TO TOTAL CITY TAX REVENUE
Annual taxes from REAL ESTATE Related Taxes[1]
- Real estate related taxes (real property, commercial rent, hotel occupancy, mortgage recording, and transfer) accounted for $29.5 billion in New York City
- 52% of all New York City taxes collected were real estate related
- Real estate related tax contributions increased, as a share of the total taxes collected by the City, by 9 percentage points between 2008 and 2018
- Real estate related taxes could pay the City’s entire share of salaries for all 325,000 full-time city employees

Fiscal Year: |
18 |
17 |
16 |
15 |
14 |
13 |
12 |
11 |
10 |
9 |
Real Property Tax |
$25.8 |
$24.7 |
$23.2 |
$21.5 |
$20.2 |
$19.0 |
$18.2 |
$17.1 |
$16.4 |
$14.5 |
Mortgage Recording |
$0.9 |
$1.1 |
$1.2 |
$1.2 |
$1.0 |
$0.7 |
$0.5 |
$0.4 |
$0.4 |
$0.5 |
Hotel Room Occupancy |
$0.6 |
$0.6 |
$0.6 |
$0.6 |
$0.5 |
$0.5 |
$0.5 |
$0.4 |
$0.4 |
$0.3 |
Commercial Rent |
$0.8 |
$0.9 |
$0.8 |
$0.8 |
$0.8 |
$0.7 |
$0.7 |
$0.6 |
$0.6 |
$0.6 |
Transfer |
$1.4 |
$1.4 |
$1.8 |
$1.8 |
$1.5 |
$1.1 |
$0.9 |
$0.8 |
$0.6 |
$0.7 |
Real Estate Tax Total |
$29.5 |
$28.7 |
$27.6 |
$25.8 |
$24.0 |
$22.0 |
$20.8 |
$19.4 |
$18.3 |
$16.7 |
Sales and Use Taxes |
$7.3 |
$7.2 |
$7.3 |
$6.9 |
$6.6 |
$6.3 |
$6.0 |
$5.8 |
$5.2 |
$4.8 |
Personal Income |
$11.8 |
$11.3 |
$11.4 |
$11.3 |
$10.2 |
$9.8 |
$8.6 |
$8.2 |
$7.6 |
$7.5 |
Corporate Income |
$6.0 |
$7.1 |
$6.4 |
$7.1 |
$6.7 |
$6.7 |
$6.0 |
$6.2 |
$5.2 |
$6.0 |
Other Taxes |
$2.2 |
$0.3 |
$0.9 |
$0.8 |
$0.8 |
$0.9 |
$0.7 |
$0.7 |
$0.9 |
$0.8 |
Non-Real Estate Tax Total |
$27.3 |
$25.9 |
$26.0 |
$26.1 |
$24.3 |
$23.7 |
$21.3 |
$20.9 |
$18.9 |
$19.1 |
Total Taxes |
$56.8 |
$54.6 |
$53.6 |
$51.9 |
$48.3 |
$45.7 |
$42.1 |
$40.3 |
$37.2 |
$35.8 |
Real Estate % of Total |
52% |
53% |
52% |
50% |
50% |
48% |
49% |
48% |
49% |
47% |
[1] Source: New York City Comptroller