'New York City will turn into Mumbai': Billionaire Barry Sternlicht slams Zohran Mamdani’s rent freeze plan

Zohran Mamdani

Billionaire real estate investor Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, has warned that New York City could turn into Mumbai under mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s rent freeze plan.

Sternlicht warned that Mamdani’s plan to freeze rents amid stagnant tenant incomes could spark widespread nonpayment and undermine trust in property ownership. He also said his firm is considering relocating from New York post Mamdani’s victory.

“Over $100 million, every project in New York has to go union, and it’s super expensive. It leads to extremely expensive housing. And other developers have tried to cut deals with the unions, but they rule New York, and that’s one of the key reasons the blue states are so expensive and they’re so difficult to add supply of housing to,” Sternlicht said in an interview with CNBC Property Play, reacting to Mamdani's win.

“And then the far left gets really nuts and says the tenants don’t have to pay. Well, you can’t kick them out if they don’t pay. So the neighbour finds out the neighbour isn’t paying, and they don’t pay, and the next guy doesn’t pay, and then you’re basically going to turn New York City into Mumbai.”

Sternlicht also said that his New York team is considering leaving the city.

“The core issues are not what he’s focusing on. We need to increase housing. That’s not going to happen easily, right? You need serious subsidies from the government if they want us to work with unions. The unions have to be more accommodative on their work laws and the wages and everything else, otherwise you can’t add economically,” he said.

Zohran Mamdani won the mayoral polls on a flagship pledge to freeze rents citywide, arguing that stagnant tenant incomes warranted relief without added burdens on residents. The Democratic Socialist, who triumphed over Andrew Cuomo in a hard-fought contest, centred his camoaign on blaming landlords and developers for the housing crisis and vowed to cap rents for millions of units while strengthening anti-eviction safegruards.