New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani speaks on Oct. 22, 2025, during a New York City mayoral debate at LaGuardia Community College in Queens, flanked by rival candidates Andrew Cuomo (left) and Curtis Sliwa. (Associated Press pool photo by Hiroko Masuike/New York Times)
Hiroko Masuike/Associated Press
The New York City skyline in October 2019 from Greenwich Point Park in Greenwich, Connecticut. Brokers say they are hearing heightened levels of interest from New York City residents considering home purchases in Connecticut, as New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani maintains a lead in polling in the race for the New York City mayor’s office.
Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media
A mix of Connecticut and New York license plates on cars parked on Greenwich Avenue, in October 2025 in Greenwich, Connecticut. Brokers say they are getting escalating interest from New York City residents in checking out real estate in Connecticut, as New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani maintains a lead in the polls for the New York City mayor’s office.
Alexander Soule/Hearst Connecticut Media
Stamford’s Waterside neighborhood and the New York City skyline beyond, as photographed in November 2021 from the roof of Charter Communications’ headquarters at 406 Washington Boulevard in Stamford, Connecticut.
Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media
Commuters board a Metro North train to New York City, in March 2025 at the Stamford Transportation Center in Stamford, Connecticut. Real estate brokers say they are getting queries from New York City residents who are considering home purchases in Connecticut as New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani maintains a lead in the polls for New York City’s mayoral race.
H John Voorhees III/Hearst Connecticut Media
In a Wednesday debate, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani cited soaring costs of living in New York City as prompting some of the city’s lower-paid workers to move to outlying suburbs, including Connecticut.
If he is elected mayor, would the wealthiest New York City residents do the same? That has been the buzz since the summer months, real estate brokers tell CT Insider — and that buzz is getting louder as Mamdani continues to lead rivals Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa in polls on a platform that includes raising taxes.
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A real estate boom that began during the COVID-19 pandemic has yet to subside, though sales have leveled out due to limited numbers of properties for sale. In many cities and towns, that has forced buyers to pay above listed prices to beat out others looking to purchase in Connecticut.
That includes New York City residents who continue to house hunt in Connecticut, brokers say, including some this year who want to be able to establish residency elsewhere if the Democratic Party nominee Mamdani wins the election.
“That’s been on the radar since the primary results, and we have seen people coming in from New York,” said Paul Breunich, CEO of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty based in Stamford. “It’s not this huge wave — but yes, it’s been out there.”
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Throughout the campaign, independent candidate Cuomo and Republican nominee Sliwa have latched onto Mamdami’s vows to raise taxes as a precursor to a New York City exodus by wealthy residents and corporations. Would higher taxes prompt any such flight? There are arguments on both sides of the coin.
Multiple studies cited this month by The American Prospect found no correlation between differences in state taxes and where millionaire households choose to live.
But others see a different outcome, including the Citizen’s Budget Commission. The New York public finance watchdog published findings in August that while New York has seen increased numbers of millionaire households, that has been a national trend. Calculated as a share of all millionaire households nationally, both New York City and the state saw significant declines between 2010 and 2022 and “ample anecdotal evidence indicates that New York’s nation-leading taxes matter,” in the words of Ana Champeny, CBC’s vice president for research who authored the report.
The CBC study reported New York City’s and New York state’s combined income tax for higher earners ranging between 13.5% and 14.8%, compared to Connecticut’s income tax of just under 7%.
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Mark Pruner, a broker in the Greenwich office of Compass, said he has yet to meet anyone from New York City personally who cites the mayoral election as a reason to move to Connecticut. But Pruner noted sales of luxury properties have spiked in Greenwich in the past several months compared to totals in prior years, particularly those selling for above $10 million.
“I’ve got a chart where it looks like a bunch of bumpy hills going back to 1999 — and then you get to this year and it’s a hockey stick,” Pruner said of sales trends over time for the priciest properties in Greenwich. “We were having a good year before Mamdani won the primary on June 24 — and now we are having a great year.”
While high-end real estate is being influenced by other factors — a surging stock market, Wall Street bonuses and fears of any “AI bubble” impact on the market among them — those considerations would not prompt buyers to select one geography over another.
The topic of any exodus by wealthy New York City residents and corporations was not addressed as a standalone topic during the a final debate on Wednesday at LaGuardia Community College in Queens, hosted by Spectrum News NY1 owned by Charter Communications based in Stamford.
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During the debate, Mamdani raised the opposite specter — that lower-paid workers have little choice but to leave New York City amid escalating rents and other costs. His proposals including seeking permission from the state of New York to implement a $30 minimum wage by 2030, phased in over a longer period for small businesses.
“That’s the minimum that a New Yorker needs to be paid to be able to afford to live in this city,” Mamdani said. “What we are looking at right now is a possibility of the place that we know and love becoming a museum where working-class people used to be able to live.
“The absence of [sufficient wages] is pushing them to live in Jersey City, to live in Pennsylvania, to live in Connecticut — because they can’t afford to live in New York City,” Mamdani added.
Gov. Ned Lamont told CT Insider he is not picking sides in the New York City mayoral election, and noted that the state of New York would have a say in any effort to change New York City taxes.
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“Their success is our success, New York’s. I don’t wish them ill,” Lamont said. “And I think they’ve got to pay attention to some of their core businesses, including finance. That said, have people been calling me? Yes.”
Includes prior reporting by Dan Haar.