Barry Sternlicht's Net Worth: How the Real Estate Mogul Views New York's Rent Freeze
When you hear that Zoharan Mamdani, the newly elected New York figure with a promise to freeze rents, is rattling major players in the city’s housing market, it’s worth listening closely. As the mayoral wave swept in, Mamdani appealed to tenants frustrated by steep rent hikes amid stagnant incomes. His victory introduced a sense that 'finally someone is thinking about us,' but it also triggered alarm in boardrooms and high-stakes property portfolios.
Enter Barry Sternlicht. As chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, he oversees major commercial and residential holdings in New York, along with his own Midtown Manhattan offices. In an interview with CNBC, he didn’t mince words: “Over $100 million, every project in New York has to go union, and it’s super expensive. It leads to extremely expensive housing. … And then 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. … you’re basically going to turn New York City into Mumbai.”
“New York City is in for a really tough time,” he said. “Maybe he’ll learn from history. Maybe the million people that voted for him won’t realize that socialism has never worked anywhere on the planet Earth, ever.”
He cautioned that Mamdani’s proposed rent freeze, when combined with already narrow profit margins, would further discourage developers from investing or expanding the city’s housing stock. “The core issues are not what he’s focusing on,” Sternlicht said. “We need to increase housing, and that’s not going to happen easily. You need serious subsidies from the government if they want us to work with the unions.”
With 123 billionaires in the Big Apple in 2025 and a socialist-leaning mayor at the helm, the stakes have rarely been higher. So when someone such as Sternlicht says he might consider leaving New York, it helps to ask: what kind of economic footprint are we dealing with? What does he actually earn, and why does it matter now?
According to Forbes, Barry Sternlicht’s net worth is estimated at $2.8 billion. Under his leadership, Starwood Capital manages roughly $115 billion in gross assets—making it one of the world’s largest real-estate investors. Sternlicht founded the firm in 1991, went on to launch the W Hotel chain, and formed Starwood Property Trust, one of the largest mortgage REITs.
In 2023, his income peaked at approximately $4.6 billion. When you connect the size of his business, the critical tone he uses in the interview, and the incoming policy wave in New York, the delicate balance becomes clear: the city’s housing future now sits at the intersection of political promises and major real-estate capital.
