Mortgage tax revenue hits 5-year high in county

Westchester County”™s mortgage tax receipts rose nearly 23 percent in 2013 from the previous year, as the county”™s recovering real estate market lifted tax revenue from residential and commercial property deals to the highest level since 2008.

The county clerk”™s office reported collecting $16.9 million in mortgage taxes last year, an approximately $3.2 million increase from 2012. That state, county and local tax revenue was still 12 percent below total mortgage tax collections in Westchester in 2008.

In 2005, the peak year for the county real estate market before the Great Recession, mortgage tax revenue totaled $39.8 million, more than double the 2013 total, according to the county clerk”™s office.

Westchester County Clerk Timothy C. Idoni in a press release said the 2013 mortgage tax figures “reflect a very robust third quarter real estate market, followed by a December drop-off similar to year-end declines in 2011 and 2012.”

Idoni said it is difficult to predict the immediate impact of stricter mortgage financing rules that took effect in January.