Remember all that salacious fearmongering about the catastrophes that were about to plague New York City if Zohran Mamdani were to get elected mayor? One of those catastrophes was supposedly a mass exodus of the wealthy. In September, when Mamdani looked likely to be New York’s next mayor, Fortune reported on a “torrent” of wealthy New Yorkers fleeing the city.
Now, Fortune is singing quite a different tune. “‘There is no Mamdani effect’: Manhattan luxury home sales surge after mayoral election, undercutting predictions of doom and escape to Florida” is the title of a December 4th article.
“There is no Mamdani effect,” Donna Olshan, president and founder of Olshan Realty, told Bloomberg. “The idea that people would flee New York was overblown. The numbers just aren’t bearing that out.”
Fortune also now reports, “New signed contracts of more than $4 million increased at more than twice the rate of the overall market,” a 25% increase from October.
In other words, homes for for the very wealthy are booming, not busting, in the wake of Mamdani’s win. It’s the opposite of what Mamdani haters tried to frighten us into believing would happen.
I’ll bet Mamdani won’t spur animal sacrifices or cause “international incidents,” either.