Westchester County”™s mortgage tax revenue rose 34 percent in 2015 to approximately $18.4 million, the highest since 2006 before the housing bubble burst, Westchester County Clerk Timothy C. Idoni said today.
Idoni said a stronger real estate market accounted for the $3.44 million increase last year in mortgage taxes compared with 2014, when the county collected about $14.95 million. Mortgage taxes in 2014 were down $2 million or 12 percent from 2013.
“Hopefully the county market has stabilized,” Idoni said. “Despite tighter borrowing standards, revenues rode the strength of the improved market.”
Mortgage loans and the resulting tax revenue to the county peaked in 2005, when the county collected approximately $39.8 million in mortgage taxes. Idoni pointed out that that record high was reached in a time of speculative loans and much lower lending standards that led to foreclosures “in too many cases.”
Idoni said he thinks tighter lending standards combined with a stronger housing market will soon lead to a consistent revenue stream for the county.
Perhaps this is a tax Westchester County could do away with? Its certainly an Andy Spano leftover tax and it generates so little money and it makes owning a home in Westchester just that more expensive.