Details about this story

• Source: New York Times
• Date: December 11, 2005
• URL: Read the story
• Bylines: Josh Barbanel
• Topics: Real Estate
• Data Types: Local Data
• Description/Excerpt: While the owners at 720 Park, which sits on the corner of 70th Street, pay about $40,000 per apartment in taxes each year, an analysis by The New York Times estimated that they would pay two to three times that if they were taxed at their true market values, under the system used for calculating taxes for single-family homes. The analysis of 68,000 sales by The Times found that this advantage is woven into the tax base of most older co-ops and to a lesser extent many condominiums and postwar co-ops across Manhattan as market values have risen sharply. State law bars assessors from basing taxes for condos and co-ops at their true market value. Average taxes on Manhattan co-ops and condos are lower than they would be if they were taxed the way some of the most heavily taxed houses are. But it is prewar co-ops that have the greatest tax advantage. On average, they pay significantly lower taxes as a percentage of market value than the taxes paid by even typical one- to three-family homes across the city. And buildings with unusually high recent market values, like 720 Park Avenue, pay unusually low taxes, even when compared to newer condominiums.
• Methodology: See explainer