Capitulating over capital gains

Fearing sunset of tax cut, more NYC property owners put buildings on market

From the October issue: Uncertainty about the expiration of capital gains tax cuts at the end of this year has some New York City real estate owners selling now to beat a potential increase in their tax bill later.

While Washington has been very publicly debating the upcoming expiration of the Bush-era federal tax cuts, most of the attention has been on the changes in how income is taxed. But those cuts under Bush also impacted taxation of capital gains, where the top rate was chopped from 20 percent to 15 percent. Unless Congress votes to extend the cut, the top rate will bounce back to 20 percent at the end of this year.

Commercial brokers and experts in the investment sales market say that fear surrounding a capital gains tax increase is spurring discretionary sellers in New York to list their properties. [more]