New York City Market Unrest in Wake of the Worst of COVID

At the beginning of spring, New York City was among the hot spots for the novel COVID-19 virus. Along with the effect the virus has had on the people of the Big Apple, there are long-term effects that have come to light within the local real estate market. 

People are beginning to see that living in a densely populated city during this time is more harmful than convenient. They’re wanting to move to rural areas, away from other people to more easily social distance. Those working remotely are seeing a need for larger homes with office space. 

Backing this claim, Zillow data suggests New York City is an outlier in that homes on the market within the city are staying vacant around 77 days while the national average is 22. 

StreetEasy, the NYC-centric arm of Zillow’s real estate brands, saw a 0.3% drop in Facebook followers while the other Zillow brands have seen rising numbers since March. On Google, StreetEasy’s traffic is wobbly at best. And New York is second to last on Zillow’s Google Analytics ‘Interest by sub-region’ tab. 

With salaries being cut, layoffs continuing to happen, and remote work on the rise as companies struggle to make ends meet, people are looking for cheaper living whenever they can and that spells trouble for the Manhattan market, specifically.