House prices are currently unsustainably high and need to decline by approximately 30% to reach more reasonable levels relative to family income.

“Even if they come down 30%, they're really still very expensive, aren't they? That would be they've come down to six or seven times family income. They'd still be twice what they used to be in the good old days.”

A pied-à-terre tax will discourage demand for second homes in New York, potentially crashing the local real estate market.

“So what do you think that's going to do? It's going to have a massive impact on demand for second homes in New York, which will crash the whole market.”

Illegal immigration increases housing prices by driving up demand and contributing to rising construction costs.

“A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that unauthorized immigrant worker flows can explain about 30% of the total growth in house prices and 20% of total growth in rents over the boom period for the average local market.”

Selling a primary residence in retirement to rent can provide financial flexibility and take advantage of capital gains exclusions.

“And so ultimately, one of the things you can do, Ben, if you've been successful, if you've been in that house since 1991 and paid $40,000 for a house worth 600K now, you can basically get that more or less capital gains tax free or at least with a very large exclusion. And so Ben, you can take those”