‘Selling Sunset’ star trashes underperforming mansion tax to Bloomberg

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A prominent Los Angeles area real estate agent is again taking aim at the city’s so-called mansion tax, which a recent Bloomberg CityLab article pointed out is bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars less than expected.

Mary Bonnet of Netflix’s “Selling Sunset” said Measure ULA, a tax on real-estate deals worth more than $5 million intended to help create affordable housing and fight homelessness, is hurting the local market, especially when it comes to the types of luxury properties that she and her Oppenheim Group colleagues sell.

“You don’t have as many buyers out there trying to buy; we don’t have as many sellers willing to sell,” Bonnet said on the show.

Bonnet reiterated that the real-estate market was “very tough” when she appeared on KTLA in November 2023 to promote the show.

“Interest rates are not our friend right now, and the mansion tax is not our friend either, especially in the luxury market. That’s what we focus on, and it’s made it kind of tough,” she told Sam Rubin.

While the voter-approved tax may be only months old, the revenue it has produced lags far behind expectations.

While researchers thought the mansion tax could bring in more than $900 million per year, it’s only earned about $142 million in its first nine months, CityLab reports.

It’s something was on Bonnet’s mind when CityLab followed up with her for the Thursday article.

“To say that this tax has been counterproductive is an understatement,” Bonnet said via email.