By now, you may have come to recognize the telltale signs of a Rye house about to disappear. A small ranch house on a large lot; windows boarded up; an external electric meter and, of course, a dumpster.
If house teardowns seem to have become common in Rye, that’s because they are.
City records show that, since the beginning of January 2019, no fewer than 112 demolition permits have been issued. They are a significant part of our real estate market. Per census housing records, that amounts to some 2 percent of all owner-occupied homes.
Put another way, our streetscapes are being radically changed as older, usually smaller homes are replaced by newer, larger ones. Older Victorians have bit the dust, as well, in favor of new homes with large bedroom suites.
Absent change in our local zoning code, it’s a trend we should expect to continue. The financial returns are such that land on which a new home can be built is worth more than the home standing on it which is then marked for tear down.
Builders stand to gain; newcomers to town clearly like the new homes.
But the trend is not without its victims — and not just those who prefer that historic homes be preserved.
Long-time, older residents, perhaps on fixed incomes, who may wish to stay in their homes and not sell them, are put under financial pressure to sell, thanks in part to rising property taxes — and the increased values of the new post-teardown homes.
Here’s why.
Our city, school, and county budgets are all increasing at a faster rate than the assessed value of our property. The value of all Rye property has, in recent years, increased by about 0.2 percent, while our city budgets have, notwithstanding the property tax cap, been rising around 2 percent annually.
That means that property tax bills must increase — such that we realize the revenue for which we’ve budgeted. The same property must pay more to keep pace with increased taxes.
From 2013 to 2023, the average Rye property tax bill — for city, county, and school taxes — rose from $27,685 to $37,309.
For long-time residents of modest incomes, that leads to financial pressure. Their land is worth more than their homes.
In other words, many Rye homes today are worth more dead than alive.
Stopping the wave of teardowns would not be easy, though.
The obvious way to do so would be to limit the size of new homes that can be built to replace what gets torn down. But that would mean that newcomers — the replacement population any vibrant community needs — might go elsewhere. Nor would it be politically easy to limit the resale value of property by changing our zoning rules.
Scarsdale, for its part, has taken the draconian step of adopting a building moratorium.
Another possible approach is one that Gov. Kathy Hochul has suggested: permitting the construction of “accessory dwelling units” — small, additional residences on large lots. These so-called “granny flats” allow owners to realize income, either by renting out the new, small unit or by renting out their homes and moving into the ADU.
Either way, owners can tap the land value that’s currently out of reach, except by selling.
But absent some dramatic change, don’t expect the teardown trend to stop any time soon.
Howard Husock is a member of the Rye Board of Assessment Review.