The taxman cometh

From the February issue: Anyone who’s picked up a newspaper or logged onto the Internet in the last month knows that lawmakers cut a last-minute deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, narrowly avoiding widespread tax increases and deep spending cuts. But now New York real estate investors and home buyers — along with their accountants — are watching closely to see how that deal will affect the residential and commercial markets here. The major impact for New York real estate, observers said, could come from increases in federal capital gains rates, as well as from a Medicare surcharge tied to President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Some speculate that the capital gains increases (which range from 5 percent to 8.8 percent on the margin) could cause a drop-off in the number of properties traded, as well as an increase in asking prices for residential and commercial real estate. [more]