Officials in states like New York are already sounding the alarm on lost tax revenues due in part to migration to Florida.

In a press conference Feb. 5, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for the first time divulged the economic pain his state is finding itself in, now that it faces an exodus of property taxpayers. New York’s state budget officials said that in the last year, tax revenue was about $2.3 billion below projections and would necessitate a significant budget overhaul. Other states like New Jersey and Connecticut also recently reported large gaps in tax collection figures for 2018.

While there isn’t much data to prove this theory definitively, the revenue shortfalls being seen in these states are likely the result of recent federal tax law changes that encourage more homeowners to move to states with lower tax burdens. Florida and Miami specifically appear to be the top benefactors in this trend. The Sunshine State saw the highest level of net domestic migration of any state between July 2017 and July 2018, according to Census Bureau data. Over the same period, New York made the top of the list for population loss. In New York and much of the nation, home values and sales grew only modestly last year, if at all. Meanwhile, sales in Florida and Miami came out ahead of the national average.

In other local real estate news:

• Yotel, known for its “affordable luxury hotels” in New York, Singapore, Boston and San Francisco broke ground on a new mixed-use residential building in downtown Miami. The high-rise’s bottom floors will be made up by hotel rooms and the top floors of the building will be condos. Referred to as “Pads” by Yotel, these condos will be built with apps like Airbnb in mind, as there are “zero rental restrictions” on the Pads, freeing owners to rent out spaces to temporary guests. The project broke ground on Jan. 31 and is expected to be completed by early 2021. The project is being overseen by Aria Development Group. Since the launch of the project, 50 percent of the residences have already been sold. The sales and marketing team of the Yotelpad project, OneWorld Properties, reached this milestone only 6 months after the launch of the building. Yotelpad Miami will include three Techi robot butlers to deliver food, drinks, documents and gifts and can also be programmed to speak a variety of languages and play music and other audio files. The building, when finished, will have 231 “pads” and 222 hotel rooms. Prices for residences start in the $300,000 range.
• Nelson Gonzalez of EWM International Realty closed on a $17 million sale that broke a two-year price record for a home sale on North Bay Road in Miami Beach. The new construction, 10,665 square foot home at 6010 N. Bay Road was sold to New York developer Peter Fine, according to a press release.
• Remember the building on stilts? The Allapattah development that could become something of an architectural landmark in South Florida is a step closer to being realized. The project, designed by architects at Bjarke Ingels Group and led by developer Robert Wennett, received approval from the Miami Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board Feb. 6. It’s currently the site of several storage warehouses for Miami Produce, but plans call for a massive complex of four buildings stacked upon one another, with a combined 1.4 million square feet of retail space, rooftop gardens and residential units. The plans also call for what would be the first co-living development in the Miami area. The proposal still needs to earn approval from the Miami City Commission before building can begin.