Local government officials must be getting nervous if they are reading this story. New York City is one of the few hot warm spots in the real estate market and is showing a significant weakness in tax revenue collection. What are the mayors of Stockton and San Diego thinking as they try to keep all the bloated city services going?

So many local governments allocated their real estate tax surpluses to special vote buying constituent services that made the voters feel good without fulfilling their basic needs.  Now they will fight to keep these services going even after the real estate tax well has run dry.

The true catch 22 of the matter is when the homeowners realize they are being assessed for much more than their properties are worth and start mass appealing their assessments. That will be fun to watch as the politicians start scurrying.

Both of New York City’s underpeforming real estate tax revenues are based on sales of offices, warehouses, apartments and single-family homes. The number of deals has slowed, though with some properties, such as Manhattan apartments, prices still rose substantially in the last quarter.
Real property transfer taxes fell 12.7 percent, or nearly $162 million, from the same period a year ago, according to Democratic Comptroller William Thompson. At the same time, mortgage recording tax collections were down 20.1 percent, or $234 million. The Guardian

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