00:00And boy, what a start to the new year.
00:02It was like an earthquake, right?
00:04Especially when it comes to the real estate market.
00:06So clearly this is a focal point of President Trump.
00:10And I have to imagine the Democrats as well, housing affordability.
00:13And before we talk too much about the specific proposals that have arisen in the last 24 hours or so,
00:20from where you're sitting, what do you think is the key root of the affordability crisis in this nation right now?
00:26You know, I think we have to come up, your guest before was talking about it,
00:29we need more supply.
00:31And so I think we have to have less restrictive zoning.
00:34Things like the city of yes that Mayor Adams got passed is a great way to start.
00:38I think things like rent control is not helpful.
00:42A 50-year mortgage is not helpful.
00:44I think restricting corporations from buying homes is not going to help.
00:47That's 2% or 3% of the housing stock.
00:50It's not going to do much.
00:51I think we have to really figure out ways to build more homes so people can.
00:56There's more supply in the market.
00:58So supply and demand is the central nervous system of the housing market.
01:02And so these little, like, talking points that politicians are selling are not helpful, I don't think.
01:07Well, you have to imagine that the volume will only increase as we get closer and closer to the midterm elections in November.
01:13But when it comes to your point that we need more supply in this country, I think a lot of people would agree with you.
01:20Talk to us about the demand side, though.
01:22Yeah, I mean, it depends on where you are, right, because all real estate is so local.
01:27We are in New York City, which is a very different market than many parts of the country.
01:32So, you know, this market, I mean, the prices have been pretty flat.
01:35We had a really good 2025.
01:37It was recovering from 2024.
01:39It was challenging but much better.
01:42More people got into the market.
01:43And rates do play a part, but not as much as the rest of the country, because it's more discretionary.
01:49So people pay cash.
01:50But when rates come down, you see more buyers get into the market.
01:53And you see sellers willing to list their homes because they've got a lock-in rate of, like, 2% or 3%.
01:59So they've been holding back.
02:00But if it's at 5% or maybe 6%, then maybe they'll get into the market.
02:04And so that's kind of what we've been seeing.
02:06Do you think we're going to see more inventory in the New York area, at least in the markets that you cover, relative to the last couple of sort of spring selling seasons, if you will?
02:14I think little by little.
02:15You're not going to see anything explosive.
02:17I do not see that.
02:19I see little trickles of more inventory coming in.
02:21It's slow and steady progress, but it's going to take time.
02:25We have a new administration, right?
02:26We have a new mayor who's in place, who, you know, has all these new plans and policies.
02:31And we have to keep the city safe, you know.
02:33And studies have shown that freezing the rent, there's decades of evidence that support the fact that that does not help the housing market.
02:41In fact, it makes it worse.
02:43You know, Obama's, like, chief economist spoke about this in great detail.
02:47And so you want to have good policies.
02:49Forget if you're a socialist, Democrat, Republican.
02:51Good policies to help our city.
02:53Do you worry at all?
02:55I mean, you deal with a lot of high-net-worth individuals, and there's been a lot of just anecdotal evidence, no real data,
02:59saying that, oh, people are going to flee New York because of some of the potential policies that the new mayor might implement.
03:04Have you gotten any sense that there would be any sort of real migration by some of those folks out of the city?
03:09There has been a drop of it.
03:11Some people have decided that, you know, they may move or they're going to leave.
03:14We saw California news today that a lot of people are leaving because of that big tax.
03:17But it's still unwritten, and it's hard to say.
03:21If safety starts to falter in New York City, you will see people leaving.
03:26Affordability, yes, is important, and that's why Mayor Mamdani won.
03:29But Mayor Adams won because of safety, and we have to keep that in the forefront of our minds in a city like New York.
03:35We need safe streets and safe subways.
03:38Absolutely.
03:38And I do want to go back to the point you made that when it comes to, you know, what we're dealing with,
03:43when it comes to affordability, in your view, a lot of that might be fixed by less restrictive zoning.
03:48But talk to us, too, about, you know, the cost of new building right now, the pure material cost and how that is factoring.
03:55Well, see, that's another talking point from sort of the right.
03:59You know, this anti-immigration and the tariffs are not helping housing at all
04:03because you have people who are not showing up to do their jobs on construction sites because of fear, right?
04:09And then these tariffs, I read a study today that said the average home is now $11,000 more because of these tariffs.
04:15So that has actually hurt the supply in housing.
04:18So, again, we need good policies.
04:21Forget the labels.
04:22Labels stink.
04:23You know, we need to have people that come in with good ideas so that we can build and get people into homes.
04:28We want first-time homebuyers to not be 40 years old, which is what they are today.
04:32They should be in their 20s, late 20s or early 30s.
04:35We've got to get back to better with the homebuying product.
04:38Do you think, though, that the solution to that will be more at the local level rather than at the federal level?
04:43100%.
04:44It's always local.
04:45You have to work.
04:46You know, Mayor Adams got City of Yes passed because he worked with city council and borough presidents.
04:51He had hundreds of meetings, and he started that in 2022.
04:55That was no easy feat.
04:57And that's going to be his legacy, and people will remember him for that.
05:00We have to keep that in mind.
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