New Yorkers, who came to Greenwich for refuge, may decide to stay
The pandemic inspired the wealthiest New Yorkers to abruptly depart New York City. Many moved to upstate New York, the Hamptons, and Connecticut. Now that the vaccines are being distributed, we’ll see schools reopening and businesses asking employees to return to work. In November 2020, Jonathan Miller, a New York Citybased real estate appraiser and consultant, spoke to Anna Bahney of CNN Business about his expectations for the housing market there. He predicted that New Yorkers will return to the city and that the rental market will return first.
To date, Manhattan’s rental market continues to struggle. Manhattan’s median rental price was down -17.3% year-to-year, according to The New York Times’ reporting (“New York Rents Continue to Slide, While Sales Rebound in Brooklyn,” by Stefanos Chen and Sydney Franklin). Currently, despite the lower rental rates, there’s a supply glut of options, indicating that an en-masse return to the city hasn’t yet begun.
While the sales market in Manhattan has a lot of lost ground to cover, both Brooklyn and Queens attained new median sales price records in the last quarter of 2020, according to Chen and Franklin. This interest in the boroughs outside of Manhattan reflects a shift in the buying habits of New Yorkers, who may no longer need to travel to Midtown for work. This is the
“Located just 45 minutes from New York City — by car or by train —Greenwich is ideally positioned to allow New Yorkers who have settled here to remain and still access the city with ease, for work or for pleasure.”
same shift we’ve seen in Greenwich.
COVID has had a dramatic influence on many different facets of our lives and has certainly elevated the status of “the home.”
So many have had their lifestyles changed because of telecommuting or greatly reduced time spent in an office. It not only impacts buyers’ decisions on location, but also the features and amenities of the home they choose. Located just 45 minutes from New York City – by car or by train – Greenwich is ideally positioned to allow New Yorkers who have settled here to remain and still access the city with ease, for work or for pleasure.