New Yorkers flee virus-hit city, move to New Haven County

Nobody will ever mistake the area around the New Haven Country Club for New York’s Upper West side neighborhood.

But in age of the coronavirus, that’s a good thing, according to New Haven area Realtors and a Hearst Connecticut Media analysis of change of address request forms from the United States Postal Service. Between March and June 2019, there were just 37 change of address requests from outside Connecticut to Hamden.

This year, there were 325 change of address requests during the same period.

And of those 325 change of address forms, 193 came from the New York City ZIP code 10025 to the 06517 ZIP code in Hamden, the town’s Whitneyville neighborhood.

The 10025 ZIP code area, once known as the Bloomingdale District, it is now known as the Manhattan Valley section of the Upper West Side and includes a part of Central Park West as its eastern boundary.

According to data from the

USPS, nearly 10,000 New York residents requested change of addresses to Connecticut between March and early June this year, compared to about 1,200 requests filed during that time in 2019. Requests from New York into New Haven County increased from 241 to 1,058 during that span.

No surprise

None of this comes as any surprise to Michael Barbaro, the owner/broker of Huntsman-Meade Partners in New Haven.

“We are seeing a hot market, regardless of the town,” Barbaro said. “It’s booming. We’re seeing multiple offer situations for homes all over the area (involving people leaving New York City).”

Fairfield County remains a favorite destination for New Yorkers trying to put that city that never sleeps in their rearview mirror. But because of its proximity to Metro North commuter rail service as well as the Connecticut shoreline, Barbaro said New Haven County makes an equally strong choice.

“It’s truly a desire to get a better quality of life,” he said.

Many of the Connecticut homes that the first wave of New Yorkers are closing sales on began earlier this month, according to Barbaro.

He described the situation of one of his clients, a couple who until recently lived in Brooklyn. The wife had a business in Brooklyn that was shut down when the coronavirus hit New York City and the husband works in Manhattan.

“They just wanted some more room,” Barbaro said of the couple, whom he declined to name. “They didn’t want to be cooped up in an apartment.”

Now, the husband telecommutes and his wife tries to figure what the next step will be for the business, Barbaro said.

Popular locales

The other New Haven County locales that New York City residents listed on their change of address forms between March and June 2020, and the number of households listing those Connecticut communities are:

The neighborhood surrounding Lincoln Center to West Haven, 136.

Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood to Woodbridge, 114.

Greenwich Village/Soho to Guilford, 70.

Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood to Madison, 63.

The numbers don’t necessarily reflect new home-buyers coming into the state and include both individuals and entire family units. Short- or long-term renters, or those who own multiple properties and are shifting their primary residence, also may request a change in address.

Hamden Mayor Curt Balzano Leng said he has not heard of any specific instances of people moving into Hamden from New York City.

“I have listened to some real estate agents who have expressed that there’s a Connecticut market for people exploring moving out of the New York City experience,” Leng said.

“My concern as a mayor would be traveling folks, who might come in from other locations temporarily, especially from any locations with (COVID-19) numbers increasing or experiencing any level of outbreak,” he said. “Keeping to cohorts now is important and that stretches to the state, town and even neighborhood level.”

Guilford First Selectman Matt Hoey said it’s hard to tell at this point whether there has been a surge in people moving to the Shoreline town from New York City or whether the USPS data just reflects individuals who already had second homes in town.

“I can tell you we’re seeing a lot more out-of-state license plates in town much earlier than what is normally the summer season,” Hoey said.

“So it could be a case where people who normally only spend a week or two every summer are coming up and planning to spend the whole summer here living and working remotely,” Hoey said.

Area Realtors, he said, “are having trouble keeping up with the demand for homes in the $350,000 to $600,000 price range.”

“I think we’ll have a better idea whether this a trend later in the summer once we get a look at school enrollment numbers,” Hoey said.

Thus far, Guilford has not seen an influx of families from

New York registering their children for classes in the fall, according to Superintendent of Schools Paul Freeman.

But that doesn’t mean school districts around New Haven County won’t see a last-minute surge.

Sherry Peterson, branch vice president and manager for Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Branford, recently completed a sale of waterfront property that was in excess of $1 million to a New York couple with two children.

“They haven’t decided what they’re going to do yet,” she said referring to where the children will attend school.

The issue could become even harder for districts to determine easily as Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has released his plan to have the state’s public schools have students return to in-person learning in the fall. One scenario has students staying in their classrooms and teachers moving from class to class when each period ends and a new one begins. Parents and educators have raised concerns about the ability to social distance when students return to school.