Last week’s city property transfer tax revenues 63 percent below average

The dollar volume of the city’s real property tax receipts for the past five work days is 63 percent below the anticipated weekly average of about $27 million, according to an analysis of city transfers and city budget projections.

New York City property sales recorded the five working days from April 9 through April 15 generated only $9.8 million in real property transfer tax payments according to a PincusCo analysis, or about $17 million below the weekly average. The highest-paying transfer was Vornado Realty Trust’s buyout of the remaining 16 years on Kmart’s lease at 1 Penn Plaza, which triggered a tax payment of $892,500.

The same five work days ending in April 15 a year ago generated more than $50 million in real property transfer taxes, according to the analysis.

The analysis includes both residential properties such as condominiums as well as commercial properties.

The tax revenue is important because city transfer taxes were expected to fund about $1.4 billion of the city’s budget for fiscal year 2020, which ends June 30.

The city’s Independent Budget Office released a report this week that real property transfer tax receipts for the fiscal year ending in June would likely be about $168 million below the anticipated figure of $1.4 billion.

The IBO estimates that the real property tax receipts for fiscal year 2021 which begins July 1, will be hit harder and will fall $344 million below the estimate made in January of just over $1.4 billion.

-Adam Pincus