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Mamdani will turn New York into Mumbai, says real estate billionaire Barry Sternlicht
Sternlicht revealed that his company is planning to leave New York, strengthening his arguments against Mamdani's policies .
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Jeffin T. Kaleekal - Wed, 12, Nov 2025
- 01:16 EST
- 16
Barry Sternlicht and Zohran Mamdani / Wikimedia commons
Real estate billionaire Barry Sternlicht lambasted New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s campaign promises and remarked that Mamdani will turn New York into Mumbai.
Sternlicht is a real estate investor and co-founder of Starwood Capital Group, a private equity firm managing more than $100 billion in assets focused on global real estate, hotels, and infrastructure.
Speaking to CNBC, Sternlicht predicted a grim future for New York under its new mayor. Mamdani, described as an experiment in socialism by the citizens of New York, centered his campaign around the cost-of-living crisis. Key among his campaign promises was a rent freeze in rent-stabilized apartments. He also pledged free bus services, a universal free childcare program for children ages 6 months to 5 years, and five city-owned grocery stores — one in each borough.
ALSO READ: Trump versus Mamdani: the president's newest showdown
Talking about Mamdani, the billionaire said, “The far left gets really nuts and says the tenants don’t have to pay. Well, you can’t kick them out if they don’t pay. So the neighbor finds out the neighbor isn’t paying, and they don’t pay, and the next guy doesn’t pay, and then you’re basically going to turn New York City into Mumbai.”
He also agreed with Mamdani that housing is a key issue, but his solution to the housing crisis diverged sharply. Sternlicht said, “We need to increase housing. That’s not going to happen easily, right? You need serious subsidies from the government if they want us to work with unions. The unions have to be more accommodating on their work laws and the wages and everything else; otherwise, you can’t add economically.”
Highlighting the challenges posed by unions, Sternlicht remarked, “Every project in New York has to go union, and it’s super expensive. It leads to extremely expensive housing.” He added that multiple real estate companies have tried to cut deals with unions “but they (the unions) rule New York, and that’s one of the key reasons the blue states are so expensive and they’re so difficult to add supply of housing to.”
Discussing Mamdani’s taxation goals, which seek to levy additional taxes on the top 1 percent of New York’s wealthy, Sternlicht reiterated what Mamdani’s critics have been saying since the idea was first floated. Sternlicht warned that this would force the “successful” to leave the city and, in turn, make New York reliant on Washington’s kindness for survival.
Adding more weight to his argument, he revealed that his company is planning to shut down operations in New York.
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