The proposal is announced

On April 15, 2026, Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani announced a proposed surcharge on luxury second homes in New York City valued at $5 million or more. The announcement came with a projection: about $500 million a year.

What was announced?

• The target: residences that are not the owner's primary residence.
• The value line named at announcement: $5 million or more.
• The revenue claim: about $500 million a year, from City Hall.

The announced figures are not the enacted ones

Read this entry as a proposal, not as law. The bill that passed on May 28, 2026 reaches further down than the announcement suggested: Class 2 condominium and cooperative units with a Department of Finance market value of $1 million or more, alongside Class 1 one- to three-family homes over $5 million.

The $1 million line is a Department of Finance market value, not a sale price, which is a distinction that survives every later revision of the numbers.

What did the announcement not settle?

An announcement names a target and a revenue figure. It does not say how primary residence gets judged, which documents prove it, or what happens to a unit held through an LLC or a trust. All of that came later: first in the enacted law on May 28, 2026, then in the Department of Finance rules adopted July 14, 2026.