NEW YORK CITY—Annual tax revenue generated by the city's real estate industry last year increased by 24.4% since 2013, according to a new analysis by the Real Estate Board of New York.

The industry generated $20.4 billion in taxes in 2016, which represents 43% of the city's tax revenue. The real estate industry employs 606,000 workers with an average salary of $75,700 and was responsible for $139.4 billion in total economic output in 2015, a 20.1% increase from 2013.

In Fiscal Year 2016, revenue-generating properties provided enough tax revenue to pay the city's entire share of $15 billion in payroll expenses for teachers, police officers, fire fighters, sanitation workers, and correction officers and still have $5.4 billion left to fund other city services.

These numbers factor in taxes from properties such as office and residential rental buildings, hotels, retail stores, and utility properties and do not include one-to-three family homes, cooperatives, and condominiums.

“The increasing tax revenue generated by income-producing properties means our industry is playing an even greater role in making New York a thriving place to live, work, and raise a family,” says John H. Banks, III, REBNY president. “Real estate is an enormously powerful economic engine, fueling more good jobs, and funding more vital city services than ever before.”

Adds Marc Shaw, chair of the CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance, and former First Deputy Mayor of New York, “Taxes from the real property tax has long been one of the stabilizing forces for NYC revenues. Its recent increase in the percentage of total gross city product represents the health of the sector and its importance to the New York City economy.”

“The real estate industry plays such a critical role in New York City, not only by generating $139.4 billion of economic activity in the region but also by providing $20.4 billion in direct support to fund the daily municipal services that impact the lives of every New Yorker,” says Alfred Cerullo, III, president and CEO of the Grand Central Partnership and former commissioner of the NYC Dept. of Finance. “That's why it's imperative that we continue to support the efforts by the industry to modernize and upgrade their assets so that we continue to make our city an attractive environment to live, visit, and conduct business.”

“Inventing and reinventing buildings, whether for work, play or living, is what makes New York different from all other cities. Some cities make automobiles, some cities make sneakers, and others make airplanes. New York puts land to use in new and creative ways,” says Mitchell L. Moss, Henry Hart Rice professor of Urban Policy and Planning at New York University. “The real estate industry in New York is the key to our capacity to innovate and compete,”

REBNY's 2016 update includes the following comparisons between Fiscal Year 2013 and Fiscal Year 2016: $139.4 billion in total economic output in 2015, a 20.1% increase from 2013; approximately 12.5% of gross city product, which is a.5 percentage point increase from 2013 606,600 total jobs, a 9.5% increase from 2013.

There was a 15.3% increase in direct employment in the construction industry compared with 2013; and a 28.7% increase from 2013 in total wages and benefits to $45.8 billion; a 16.6%  increase in direct wages in the construction industry compared with 2013.

NEW YORK CITY—Annual tax revenue generated by the city's real estate industry last year increased by 24.4% since 2013, according to a new analysis by the Real Estate Board of New York.

The industry generated $20.4 billion in taxes in 2016, which represents 43% of the city's tax revenue. The real estate industry employs 606,000 workers with an average salary of $75,700 and was responsible for $139.4 billion in total economic output in 2015, a 20.1% increase from 2013.

In Fiscal Year 2016, revenue-generating properties provided enough tax revenue to pay the city's entire share of $15 billion in payroll expenses for teachers, police officers, fire fighters, sanitation workers, and correction officers and still have $5.4 billion left to fund other city services.

These numbers factor in taxes from properties such as office and residential rental buildings, hotels, retail stores, and utility properties and do not include one-to-three family homes, cooperatives, and condominiums.

“The increasing tax revenue generated by income-producing properties means our industry is playing an even greater role in making New York a thriving place to live, work, and raise a family,” says John H. Banks, III, REBNY president. “Real estate is an enormously powerful economic engine, fueling more good jobs, and funding more vital city services than ever before.”

Adds Marc Shaw, chair of the CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance, and former First Deputy Mayor of New York, “Taxes from the real property tax has long been one of the stabilizing forces for NYC revenues. Its recent increase in the percentage of total gross city product represents the health of the sector and its importance to the New York City economy.”

“The real estate industry plays such a critical role in New York City, not only by generating $139.4 billion of economic activity in the region but also by providing $20.4 billion in direct support to fund the daily municipal services that impact the lives of every New Yorker,” says Alfred Cerullo, III, president and CEO of the Grand Central Partnership and former commissioner of the NYC Dept. of Finance. “That's why it's imperative that we continue to support the efforts by the industry to modernize and upgrade their assets so that we continue to make our city an attractive environment to live, visit, and conduct business.”

“Inventing and reinventing buildings, whether for work, play or living, is what makes New York different from all other cities. Some cities make automobiles, some cities make sneakers, and others make airplanes. New York puts land to use in new and creative ways,” says Mitchell L. Moss, Henry Hart Rice professor of Urban Policy and Planning at New York University. “The real estate industry in New York is the key to our capacity to innovate and compete,”

REBNY's 2016 update includes the following comparisons between Fiscal Year 2013 and Fiscal Year 2016: $139.4 billion in total economic output in 2015, a 20.1% increase from 2013; approximately 12.5% of gross city product, which is a.5 percentage point increase from 2013 606,600 total jobs, a 9.5% increase from 2013.

There was a 15.3% increase in direct employment in the construction industry compared with 2013; and a 28.7% increase from 2013 in total wages and benefits to $45.8 billion; a 16.6%  increase in direct wages in the construction industry compared with 2013.