Facing the New Reality (living in times of COVID) has impacted every single industry. In many cases it has been extremely detrimental.  In some cases less so.  In some industries there has been difficulty but there has also been a recovery.  Here we take a look at the real estate market.

According to Douglas Elliman appraiser Jonathan Miller:

“There has been an upward grind in slow motion that’s been occurring since last spring. But Manhattan has just not kept pace with the rest of the region.”

Since the pandemic began, the median price has only dropped slightly by around four percent.  Indeed the average sale price hardly changed at all.  The one big change was likely office rental which dropped due to lockdowns.

The good news however is that selling apartments is taking less time due to much more online viewing.  With more hope coming from the new immunizations, there is much more optimism in general which of course spills over to housing.  As CEO and founder of Modern Spaces Eric Benaim pointed out:

“Many developers reduced pricing during COVID, so buyers will now see an opportunity to purchase a ‘value.’  FED has said it plans on holding the current interest rates until 2023, which will also help.”

This sentiment was echoed by CEO of MNS, Andrew Barrocas who believes that it is likely the NYC market will recover around 50% of what it has lost in the next six months.  He added:

“That’s contingent on 50% of people returning to the office,” Barrocas says. “If 75% return, the market will recover 75%. If it’s 25%, the market will recover 25%. We have 20,000 vacant apartments right now. It’s purely a supply and demand issue. There’s a direct correlation with the rental market and people retuning to the office and with the current trends, I feel 50% of people will be back in Summer 2021. It’s what makes New York, New York.”