Gregory Heym is Chief Economist at Brown Harris Stevens. His weekly series, The Line, covers new developments to the economy, including trends and forecasts. Read on for the latest report and subscribe here to receive The Line in your inbox.

Today, we present a breakdown of NYC’s housing units, tell you how to get a free lighthouse, and examine the latest on jobless claims.

New York City’s Housing Stock

One of the questions I get asked a lot is "What percent of NYC’s housing units are co-ops, condos, or rentals?" Here’s the answer by borough, courtesy of the recently released FY2024 final assessment roll.

You can view the final assessments for the upcoming fiscal year on the DOF’s website. The city has also released a statistical summary of the tax roll, with a whole bunch of interesting tables. Well, at least I find them interesting.

Having a Problem Affording a Home? Try a Free Lighthouse

The Federal Government is giving away six lighthouses located in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. While they are free, the new owners will have to pay for the upkeep and maintenance, as well as any property taxes due. Those costs can run anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000 per year, according to the owner of a lighthouse in Chesapeake Bay.

Why is the government giving these away? Modern technology—think GPS—has made lighthouses pretty obsolete. That said, they remain tourist attractions that the government would like preserved. They are also auctioning four lighthouses in Ohio, Connecticut, Michigan, and New York if you have the dough.

Congress passed the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act in 2000, and since then 80 lighthouses have been given away and another 70 auctioned. So, if you’ve ever dreamed of living in a lighthouse, now’s your chance.

Jobless Claims Rise to their Highest Level Since October 2021

Initial claims for unemployment rose by 28,000 last week to 261,000. This was well above the Dow Jones estimate of 235,000, and the highest weekly figure since October 30, 2021. While this sounds bad, I wouldn’t hit the panic button over one week of bad data. Weekly data can be very volatile, and this data could have been influenced by the Memorial Day holiday. As we learned a week ago, the nation’s labor market is still pretty hot, so this may be just an aberration. I’m not saying jobless claims will stay low—that would be hard to expect given all the layoff announcements this year—but in the short term, I expect the labor market to remain strong.

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