Can you imagine a mayoral candidate winning next year without the support of the real estate industry?
Theoretically, you could say Mike Bloomberg ran without the support of any interest group—although, clearly, I had members who were very supportive of him. …
On the other hand, how can any candidate expect to be mayor without recognizing the importance of the real estate industry? Putting aside whether you agree or disagree with us on some critical issue, in terms of the amount of taxes generated by the real estate industry—from real estate taxes we pay on an annual basis to the transaction taxes paid as a result of real estate sales—it’s a critical part of the city’s economy. And so we say that if the city does well, we do well. The reverse of that is true: If real estate does well, then the city of New York is doing well, which is one reason why we’ve got a $4 billion surplus right now.
What’s REBNY’s relationship with the Spitzer administration so far?
Very good. [Governor] Eliot [Spitzer] has reached out to us on different issues to ask our input before making decisions. We appreciate that. His commissioners have been talking to us on various issues, whether that’s on the lack of tax-exempt bonds to build affordable housing to what’s happening in Lower Manhattan. And we’ve worked with him closely on the issue of terrorist insurance, in which [the administration] was helping play a role in trying to shape Washington’s decision on that.
So, the relationship is good. The administration clearly reaches out and talks to people; and that’s all we ask for.
Does REBNY have any favorites in the presidential race?
No. Obviously, the board does not endorse candidates, period. We have a PAC, which could; but it’s a local PAC, so we don’t deal with federal directly.
But, clearly, we have a U.S. senator from the state of New York who, I think, has a lot of support from some of my members. And we have a former mayor of the city of New York who’s probably got significant support from some of my members.
You’ve been REBNY president since 1986, when New York was a very different city than it is now. What has changed the most real estate-wise, actual bricks-and-mortar real estate-wise?
Number one, almost every neighborhood could become a hot neighborhood, where in ’86 that wasn’t the case. I see my residential broker
s all over Brooklyn and Queens, where, when I first came here in 1986, the firms that were members of REBNY were primarily and almost exclusively in Manhattan. … Probably, the [real estate] families had a greater share in what was going on in ’86 than they do right now, in part because some of those families have sold their portfolios and new people have come in.
And, in ’86, we probably did O.K. with foreign money buying things, but today, clearly, because of where the dollar is, foreign money is playing an even greater role in terms of who’s buying an apartment and who’s investing in a new development.
Other than that, I don’t think it’s changed dramatically.
