Mortgage math is shifting.

In 2022, fewer than 1 in 10 homeowners had rates above 5%. Today, it’s 1 in 3.

As more owners move out of ultra-low rates, more homes are likely to hit the market — and timing becomes even more important.

Today’s average 30-year fixed rate is 5.99% — the lowest since August 2022.

Want me to run the numbers on your home so you can see what making a move in 2026 could look like? Just reply “2026.”

Today’s Topics:

Westchester Price Reductions Down 25% YoY
All-Cash Buyers Face New Anti-Money Laundering Rule
NYSAR Condemns Mayor Mamdani’s Proposed Property Tax Hike

What Those Westchester Price Cuts Really Mean

Nationally, more sellers are cutting asking prices as rising inventory, and pickier buyers collide. According to Realtor.com, price cuts showed up on about 1 in 5 listings last June, the highest share since at least 2016. Perhaps surprisingly, despite all the bidding wars, Westchester has followed suit. Let’s take a closer look at what our own price-reduction data actually shows.

January YoY: January 2026 saw just 85 cuts — a 25% drop from 2025.
Most Reductions: June 2022 tops the list with 538 reductions (26.2% of listings).
Fewest Reductions: December 2023 bottoms out at 76 reductions (6.2%).
Annual Reductions: 2024 had just 2,410 — down 4.8% vs. ‘23 and 51.8% vs. ‘21.
Tight Inventory: January ‘26 had only 1,087 listings, 2 fewer than January ‘25.

Ralph’s Take

Those big percentage swings in price cuts sound dramatic but remember: Westchester is operating on tiny inventory. With only about 1,100 listings, even small changes in reductions show up as big percentage moves. The real story is the pattern: June is usually our peak month for price cuts, with two recent exceptions: September 2024 and October 2025. So yes, cuts are happening here like the national headlines say — just against a backdrop of chronically low supply.

Westchester Weekly Market Tracker 📈

‘Coming Soon’: 23 ↑+1
New Listings: 145 ↓-7
Price Reductions: 32 ↓-1
Pending Sales: 143 ↓-12
Closed Sales: 79 ↓-12

💰 Find your home’s value here!

_{Property Type: Residential. OneKey MLS, Inc. 2/20/26 - 2/27/26.}

All-Cash Buyers Face New Anti-Money Laundering Rule

Starting March 1, 2026: The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) will require extra reporting for all-cash purchases of residential real estate made through entities or trusts. The goal is to identify the true beneficial owners behind these deals and crack down on money laundering and other illicit activity. Buyers using LLCs, corporations, partnerships or trusts in cash deals will face new disclosure and record-keeping expectations, with some notable exemptions. Key points:

Applies to transfers of residential real estate that are “non-financed”, to a legal entity or trust, and not subject to an exemption.
Exemptions: death or divorce, court-supervised or bankruptcy transfers, 1031 exchanges, no-consideration transfers into a trust where an individual is the grantor, and grants or revocations of easements.
Reports go into a non-public FinCEN database, subject to strict use limits, and are not disclosable under FOIA.
Willful violations can carry serious penalties, including up to five years in prison or a fine up to $250,000

Ralph’s Take

In 2024, 27% of all homes were purchased with all cash, according to ATTOM, and New York ranked second nationwide, with 40.4% of purchases made in cash. Because all-cash deals through LLCs, shell companies, or trusts are a common way to hide illicit funds and remain anonymous, requiring disclosure of the real people behind those entities makes this kind of abuse much harder.

NYSAR: Mayor Mamdani's Proposed Property Tax Increase 👎

The New York State Association of REALTORS® strongly condemns the property tax hike included in Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposed budget for New York City. “Property owners in New York City are already overtaxed and overregulated which harms residents of all income levels. At a time when many New Yorkers are leaving for lower-tax states, raising property taxes is both counterproductive and irresponsible. Property tax increases also raise the specter of even higher rents which affects everyone. We urge the mayor to restrain spending rather than put another dagger in the city real estate market.”