Northeast
Mamdani’s rent freeze, tax hikes a ‘one-two wealth destruction punch,’ economists warn
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New Yorkers could be facing a “one-two wealth destruction punch” if Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s rent freeze and tax hikes take effect, economists warn.
Mamdani’s housing plan, a campaign promise aimed at addressing affordability, includes an immediate freeze on roughly 2 million rent-stabilized apartments. Separately, his broader $127 billion budget agenda calls for higher taxes on wealthy residents and corporations, as well as a potential 9.5% property tax increase if state lawmakers decline to act.
In the nation’s largest city and a global financial center, the outcome of Mamdani’s proposals could shape not only the future of New York’s housing market, but also broader debates over regulation, taxation and urban policy.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani placed affordability at the center of his campaign to lead the nation’s largest city. (Angelina Katsanis/AFP/Getty Images)
Edward Pinto, senior fellow and co-director of the AEI Housing Center at the American Enterprise Institute, said capping rent increases while raising property taxes would pressure landlords from both directions, reducing revenue while increasing expenses.
“This would be a one-two wealth destruction punch,” Pinto told Fox News Digital. “The rent freeze would drive multifamily property values down and the increase in property taxes would drive both multifamily and single-family values down,” he said.
That, he warned, could ripple across the housing market, affecting not only landlords, but also homeowners whose property values are tied to broader market conditions. He also said the policies could discourage new housing construction and lead landlords to defer repairs and improvements.
“At the same time, the construction of new supply would contract, and property upkeep would diminish as repairs are deferred and improvements are not made,” Pinto said.
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Economists warn that Mamdani’s housing proposal will exacerbate affordability issues in the nation’s largest city. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Expanding on that argument, E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, said the risks extend beyond property values and could ultimately reduce the city’s housing supply.
“Economists — whether they are on the right or on the left — essentially are in universal agreement, that when the government implements price controls in the rental market, you end up with housing shortages,” Antoni told Fox News Digital.
“And not only do you end up with fewer housing units available, but the quality of those units consistently goes down as well,” he added.
Emily Hamilton, the director of the Urbanity Project at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, echoed similar concerns with Mamdani’s housing policy platform.
“It’s going to exacerbate the city’s housing quality problems that the current rent stabilization law is already exacerbating. A rent freeze would just make that worse, and ultimately will contribute to the reduction in the supply of rent-stabilized units,” she said.
Mamdani, who made lowering costs for New Yorkers a cornerstone of his campaign, has also proposed building 200,000 affordable rental units. Hamilton said that portion of the proposal could be more promising.
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With billions of dollars and millions of renters at stake, the outcome of Mamdani’s plan could shape New York City’s property landscape for years to come. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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She explained that the passage of the 1961 Zoning Resolution made it difficult to add real estate in New York City, which contributed to an affordability problem and a push to regulate rents.
“It’s regulation on top of regulation, rather than addressing the root cause of housing undersupply and just making it easier to build housing of all types at all price points,” Hamilton said.
Mamdani’s office did not reach out to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
With billions of dollars and millions of renters at stake, the outcome of the debate could shape the city’s property landscape for years to come.
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Massachusetts
People are moving out of Massachusetts but the population still grew
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More people left Massachusetts than moved in from 2024 to 2025, with the state ranking fourth in the nation for net domestic migration loss, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Thousands of residents left the Bay State for other states during that period. Regionally, the Northeast experienced a net domestic migration loss of 205,552, according to the data.
Despite the domestic outflow, Massachusetts’ population still grew by 15,524 when factoring in births, deaths, and international migration.
Here’s what to know about the states with the highest and lowest net domestic migration across the country:
Massachusetts’ net domestic, international migration from 2024 to 2025
From July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025, Massachusetts had a net domestic migration of -33,340, with 33,340 more people moving out of the state than moving in, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Meanwhile, the state had a net international migration of 40,240, as 40,240 more people moved into Massachusetts from abroad than left.
States with highest net domestic migration from 2024 to 2025
Here were the states with the highest net domestic migration from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025, according to U.S. Census data:
- North Carolina: 84,064 residents
- Texas: 67,299 residents
- South Carolina: 66,622 residents
- Tennessee: 42,389 residents
- Arizona: 31,107 residents
- Georgia: 27,333 residents
- Alabama: 23,358 residents
- Florida: 22,517 residents
- Idaho: 19,915 residents
- Nevada: 14,914 residents
States with lowest net domestic migration from 2024 to 2025
Here were the states with the lowest net domestic migration from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025, according to U.S. Census data:
- California: -229,077 residents
- New York: -137,586 residents
- Illinois: -40,017 residents
- New Jersey: -37,428 residents
- Massachusetts: -33,340 residents
- Louisiana: -14,387 residents
- Maryland: -12,127 residents
- Colorado: -12,100 residents
- Hawaii: -8,876 residents
- Connecticut: -5,945 residents
New England states’ net domestic migration from 2024 to 2025
Here’s how New England states ranked on net domestic migration from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025, according to U.S. Census data:
- Maine: 7,406 residents (ranked 18th nationally)
- New Hampshire: 6,554 residents (ranked 22nd nationally)
- Vermont: -726 residents (ranked 34th nationally)
- Rhode Island: -1,551 residents (ranked 36th nationally)
- Connecticut: -5,945 residents (ranked 42nd nationally)
- Massachusetts: -33,340 residents (ranked 47th nationally)
Census regions with highest net domestic migration from 2024 to 2025
Here’s how the four Census regions ranked on net domestic migration from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025, according to U.S. Census data:
- South: 357,790 residents
- Midwest: 16,040 residents
- West: -168,278 residents
- Northeast: -205,552 residents
New Hampshire
Possible 2028 Democratic White House contenders weigh in on Iran with New Hampshire voters
As the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran overtakes the foreign policy debate in Washington, two Democratic governors with potential 2028 presidential aspirations — Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear — recently traveled to New Hampshire, introducing themselves to the state’s famously engaged voters. The two weighed in on the war and both criticized and questioned President Trump’s strategy and endgame.
“If a president is going to take a country into war, and risk the lives of American troops and Americans in the region, he has to have a real justification and not one that seems to change every five to 10 hours,” Beshear told CBS News after a Democratic fundraiser in Keene.
“This President seems to use force before ever trying diplomacy, and he has a duty to sell it to the American people and to address Congress with it,” Beshear continued. “He hasn’t done any of that. In fact, it appears there isn’t even a plan for what success looks like. He’s gone from regime change to strategic objectives and now is talking about unconditional surrender, which isn’t realistic where he is.”
Beshear also said he thought that Congress should have reined in Mr. Trump’s war powers.
“He is trying to ignore Congress. He’s trying to even ignore the American people,” Beshear said.
He went on to note that the president’s State of the Union address took place “three — four days before he launched this attack,” and Mr. Trump “didn’t even have the respect to tell the American people the threat that he thought Iran posed to us.”
Last week, both the House and the Senate failed to pass resolutions to limit Mr. Trump’s war powers and stop him from taking further military action against Iran without congressional support.
For Newsom, the war with Iran constitutes part of a broader criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At an event last Tuesday in Los Angeles, Newsom had compared Israel to an “apartheid state.” Later, in New Hampshire, he sought to clarify his comment.
“I was specifically referring to a Tom Friedman [New York Times] column last week, where Tom used that word of apartheid as it relates to the direction Bibi is going, particularly on the annexation of the West Bank,” Newsom explained during a book tour event Thursday night in Portsmouth. “I’m very angry, with what he is doing and why he’s doing it, what he’s going to ultimately try to do to the Supreme Court there, what he’s trying to do to save his own political career.”
Friedman wrote that at the same time that the U.S. and Israel are prosecuting a war in Iran, within Israel, Netanyahu’s government has undertaken efforts to annex the West Bank, driving Palestinians from their homes; fire the attorney general who is leading the prosecution against Netanyahu for corruption; and block the government’s attempt to establish a commission to examine the failures that led up to the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Jews by Hamas.
CBS News has reached out to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment.
On Iran, Newsom said, “I’m very angry about this war, with all due respect, you know, not because I’m angry the supreme leader is dead. Quite the contrary. I’m not naive about the last 37 years of his reign. Forty-seven years since ’79 — the revolution,” Newsom said. “But I’m also mindful that you have a president who still is inarticulate and incapable of giving us the rationale of why? Why now? What’s the endgame?”
Many attendees at Newsom’s book event said that the situation in Iran is a top-of-mind issue for them, too. Some said they’re “horrified” by what is happening.
29-year-old Alicia Marr told CBS News she decided to attend Newsom’s event because of his social media response to the war with Iran.
“There was one spot left, and I decided to pick it up, and it was due to his response to the war, that it is just unacceptable, and I would agree with that,” Marr said.
While some voters like Marr are eager to hear about where potential candidates stand on foreign policy, many at Newsom’s event said they care most about how potential candidates plan to address domestic issues.
“I’m more focused on getting the middle class back on track and fighting the oligarchy, and I’m less invested in international issues,” said Anita Alden, who also attended Newsom’s event,
“I wouldn’t call myself America first, but we have so many problems at home that are my priority,” she told CBS News.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who may also be weighing another White House bid, told Fox 2 Detroit last week that she “unequivocally opposes” the Trump administration’s military action in Iran and urged Congress to take action.
“If we want to stop Donald Trump with this random decision that he has arrived at, then Congress must act, and Congress must act immediately. The American people do not want our sons and daughters to go into this unauthorized war of choice,” Harris said.
Mr. Trump has lashed out against Democrats who have pushed back on his Iran strategy, calling them “losers” last week and arguing that they would criticize any decision he made on Iran.
“If I did it, it’s no good. If I didn’t do it, they would have said the opposite, that you should have done this,” the president said.
New Jersey
The first of Paramus’ three big mall makeovers is nearly complete
Russo Development CEO talks finishing Paramus NJ projects
Edward Russo, CEO of Russo Development, speaks to NorthJersey.com about their newest projects and opportunities for developers in Paramus.
One of three massive redevelopment projects at Paramus’ biggest shopping malls will finish construction this summer. Another will have to wait until 2027.
The two projects will bring hundreds of apartments and thousands of feet of additional retail space to Bergen Town Center and Paramus Park Mall, two of Bergen County’s biggest retail destinations. Both projects are the work of Carlstadt-based Russo Development LLC, which is also building a new headquarters in the borough.
The biggest mall redevelopment in town — a multiyear plan that could bring as many as 1,400 homes to Westfield Garden State Plaza — is also underway under the direction of a different developer. That project is expected to hold an official groundbreaking in the coming weeks.
The construction is “an opportunity for affordable housing to get built, which is certainly a big priority for almost every municipality in New Jersey right now,” Russo Development CEO Ed Russo said in a recent interview. He credited borough officials for making sure “there was additional investment and vibrance that was being added” to Paramus’ commercial center.
Paramus Park housing almost done
First in line for completion is Vermella Paramus, two mixed-use buildings with 360 one-, two- and three- bedroom apartments under construction next to the Paramus Park Mall, west of the Garden State Parkway.
The project will also have 8,000 square feet of onsite retail space. It will be built adjacent to the mall and the new Valley Hospital, according to a description on the company’s website.
One of the buildings will be finished next month, while the second is scheduled to finish construction in June, Russo said last week.
Bergen Town Center project has new name, timeline
The developer, alongside KRE Group, also plans to build two five-story buildings with 426 units and 5,000 square feet of retail at Bergen Town Center, off of Route 4. The project will be called Bergen Chapters, Russo said.
The housing will include 147 one-bedroom apartments to be sold at market rate and another 12 reserved as affordable. The project will also have 1,572 parking spaces, including lots from other areas of the mall property and two parking garages.
A building on the east side of the Bergen Town Center property that currently contains a former Kirkland’s, Red Robin and Recreational Equipment Inc will be knocked down for the project. Recreational Equipment Inc. closed in late January, so the property has only become vacant in the last month, said Russo. He expects the work to finish in late 2027.
Story continues after gallery.
Living at the mall
Paramus’ three big projects fueled speculation that other shopping centers in North Jersey would follow the example, as mall owners looked for ways to survive the rise of online retail.
But there hasn’t been a tremendous amount of mall redevelopment in New Jersey, Russo said.
Paramus’ situation is unique, he noted, with “three good size malls” all within the same town. Spurred in part by state affordable housing mandates, the borough council adopted zoning in 2016 that allowed for mixed-use development along its highway corridor. That was the impetus for the three mall makeovers, Russo said.
Other factors also made the borough’s commercial corridor especially suited for this type of hybrid development, he added.
“Paramus has always been considered, for many decades, as a shopping mecca between the malls, Route 17, Route 4 and the proximity to New York City,” said Russo. “It’s really been a vibrant retail community for many years.”
In addition to fulfilling affordable housing obligations, the zoning helped the borough attract new investment around the malls, boosting their long-term success, he added.
“The retail market has been affected in a larger part of New Jersey over the last number of years,” said Russo. “I think Paramus was very forward-thinking in the zoning that they did years ago.”
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