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The Price-Point Math

What a Pied-à-Terre Costs Per Year, by Purchase Price

"What does the tax run on a $2M apartment?" is the most-asked question in this market and almost every answer you'll find is wrong — because the tax doesn't run on price at all. Here is the honest math at every price point, including the answer nobody expects: most $2M condos owe zero.

The one thing to understand first

The surcharge is computed on your unit's DOF market value — the Department of Finance's income-derived figure on the assessment roll — never on what you paid. For condos and co-ops that figure typically runs around 25–40% of open-market price: the TriBeCa condo at 56 Leonard that trades around $4.5M carries a DOF market value of $1,390,768. For 1–3 family houses the opposite holds — DOF values them near true market, so price is a fair proxy. Every estimate below flows from that split, and every bracket is a flat rate on the full value, not a marginal rate on the excess.

The actual 2026–2028 schedules

PropertyDOF market valueRate (flat, on full value)
Condos & co-ops$1M – $3M4%
$3M – $5M5.25%
Over $5M6.5%
1–3 family houses$5M – $15M0.8%
$15M – $25M1.05%
Over $25M1.3%

Condos & co-ops, price point by price point

Ranges reflect where DOF values typically land across the 630 buildings in our database; individual buildings vary widely, which is exactly why the roll number decides.

Purchase priceTypical DOF valueLikely annual surcharge (non-primary)
$1.5M~$400K – $600K$0 — under the $1M threshold
$2M~$550K – $800KUsually $0; high-income buildings can clear $1M → ~$40K+
$3M~$850K – $1.3MStraddles the line: $0 or ~$40K–$52K (4%)
$5M~$1.4M – $2M~$56K – $80K (4%)
$8M~$2.2M – $3.2M~$90K – $170K (4% or 5.25%)
$15M~$4M – $6M~$210K – $390K (5.25% or 6.5%)
$25M+often $7M+$455K+ (6.5%) — the verified extreme: a 220 CPS unit at $15.55M DOF owes $1,011,001

Two honest caveats. First, the $2M–$3M band is where guessing hurts most: the difference between a $980K and a $1.05M roll value is the difference between $0 and $42,000 a year, forever. Second, these are Phase 1 numbers — from July 2028, Phase 2 re-tests everything at a single $5M threshold on comparable sales, which will pull many high-priced condos out and some back in.

Townhouses & 1–3 family houses

Market value ≈ priceAnnual surcharge (non-primary)
Under $5M$0
$6M0.8% → $48,000
$10M0.8% → $80,000
$20M1.05% → $210,000
$30M1.3% → $390,000

What the annual number really buys you: a decision

Unlike the one-time mansion tax you paid at closing, this charge is a live yearly choice: pay it, lease your way out with a 12-month arm's-length tenant, move immediate family in as their primary home, or sell and redeploy — though before selling to escape the tax, read Sell or Bridge to 2028?: for sub-$5M homes the exit usually costs more than the two-year bridge. Owners abroad have their own playbook — see the foreign owners guide. And if DOF's value itself looks wrong, it can be challenged.

Stop estimating — pull your unit's real number

Every range above collapses to one exact figure the moment you look at the roll. We pull your unit's official DOF market value, run the surcharge test, and email a written report — free, usually within the hour: check your address.

Educational estimates, not tax advice. Typical-value ranges are observational, drawn from published assessment-roll figures across our building database; your unit's actual DOF market value governs. Rates per the DOF final rules adopted July 14, 2026.