Separating spin from facts will be a challenge for New Yorkers in the race to replace Mayor Eric Adams.
But when the subject is real estate, it should be easy for people in the industry.
Take the tweet Wednesday by state Sen. Jessica Ramos, a candidate best known for blocking Mets owner Steve Cohen’s casino-based redevelopment plan for a Citi Field parking lot.
“13 years of being a rent stabilized tenant, my rent has never gone up as much as it has under Mayor Eric Adams,” she wrote. “While he’s prepping for trial, we’ve lacked leadership that knows the rent is too damn high.”
Even Jimmy McMillan, who coined that phrase, would not be impressed by Ramos’ use of it.
The primary reason that the Rent Guidelines Board raised rents more each year under Adams than during Ramos’ previous 10 years in a rent-stabilized apartment is that inflation was higher.
Ramos well knows that pandemic-era inflation was not caused by the mayor any more than it was by Senate Democrats like herself. Post-2020 inflation was a global phenomenon driven by supply shortages and other Covid-related issues.
More important is that anyone with a minimal grasp of economics knows that Ramos’ real rent increase — that is, adjusted for inflation — was lower than her nominal increase. The fact that her nominal rent increase was higher under Adams is literally meaningless. Her tweet will fool some voters, but for others, it insults their intelligence.
If Ramos were being honest, she would tweet the inflation-adjusted change in her rent under Adams. But she won’t, because her real rent has gone down.
Meanwhile, her wages have gone up, thanks to the 29 percent raise that legislators gave themselves in 2022. Their $142,000 salary is the highest of the nation’s 50 state legislatures. Most rent-stabilized tenants can’t vote themselves a raise, but wage growth in the metro area has matched or outpaced inflation recently.
The Rent Guidelines Board has an obligation to take into account landlords’ operating costs, which have risen faster than the Consumer Price Index. Even still, the board’s rent increases have been lower than what building owners needed to keep pace with expenses.
Besides ignoring the math, and the reality of who is responsible for inflation, Ramos did not seem to appreciate the bad optics of her tweet.
About half of tenants in the city’s private apartment buildings pay market-rate rents, which have gone up much more than rent-stabilized rents. Yet here she was, with her $142,000 salary, whining that her regulated rent rose by 3.25 percent, 3 percent and 2.75 percent under three years of Adams (while inflation was 4.7 percent, 8 percent and 4.1 percent).
“I cannot believe a politician could complain about having rent stabilized apt!!!!!” one reader responded. “@jessicaramosqns u have got to be kidding!! If that pathetic increase is such a burden, move out!!!”
What we’re thinking about: Did the Hotel Association of New York City leave any hotels out to dry in its compromise with the hotel workers union? Email me at eengquist@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: Landlords can require tenants to purchase renters’ insurance, including pet liability coverage, even though the policies benefit owners as well as tenants. Policies tend to be inexpensive — $15 to $30 a month — but a landlord should ensure tenants are aware of the requirement before they sign a lease that includes it.
Elsewhere…
— The Real Deal’s New York newsroom has changed its policy about listing broker’s names. If three brokers represent one side of a deal, we will list all three. If it’s more than three, we will list only two, as in, “A team including John Smith and Jane Doe represented the landlord.” One reason for the change is that for three-broker deals, it took more words to omit the third broker and instead write “a team including.”
— A New York City police officer agreed to pay a $500 fine for harassing a resident who reported illegal parking by the NYPD to 311. The 77th Precinct cop somehow got the resident’s phone number, which was supposed to be confidential and for official use only, and left six harassing voicemail messages, including heavy breathing and recordings of animal noises, according to the Conflicts of Interest Board. The board agreed to the low fine because the officer had already forfeited 60 vacation days, worth about $24,000, to resolve disciplinary charges by the NYPD.
— Tenant activist Cea Weaver recently tweeted, “Got a free pastry at the coffee shop this morning bc I was wearing my @AOC shirt and the barista was into it. First step free coffee, second step social homes for everyone.” She added a smiling emoji, but her critics were not amused. “‘Somebody stole something from its owner and gave it to me for free, and I think we should do much more of this’ about sums up your worldview,” reader Chris Kausner replied.
Closing time, by Joseph Jungermann
Residential: The priciest residential sale Thursday was $9.5 million for a single-family home at 935 East Ninth Street, by Marvin Azrak (of Maguire Capital Group) and Barbara Azrak to Joseph Sutton, an executive at his father Jeff Sutton’s Wharton Properties. The two-story Brooklyn home is about 4,000 square feet. It last sold in 2015 for $2.1 million but has since been substantially rebuilt.
Commercial: The largest commercial sale of the day was $68 million at 81-91 North Sixth Street. Tony Malkin’s Empire State Realty Trust bought the portfolio from L3 Capital.
New to the Market: The highest price of a residential property hitting the market was $11.5 million for Unit 12B at 1010 Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side. The three-bedroom, four-bathroom co-op was listed by the Modlin Group.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building application filed was for a 74,347-square-foot, mixed-use building at 1667 Sheepshead Bay Road in Brooklyn. Yuriy Menzak of Menzak Architect filed the application.