So long, New York: pandemic and protests spark new exodus to suburbs

[marmar]

(Guardian UK) New York, I love you, but you’re getting me down, as LCD Soundsystem once sang. After three months besieged by the coronavirus pandemic, New Yorkers are heading for the suburbs – and some say they are never coming back.

Real estate brokers are describing a boom in demand for homes north of the city and on Long Island – and especially those that offer space for home offices. Competition is so fierce, says Madeline Wiebicke, a real estate broker in New City, an affluent hamlet some 20 miles from Manhattan, that city dwellers are snapping up suburban properties in bidding wars, often after just a video tour.

Demand for homes, say brokers, is fuelled not only by fears that coronavirus infections in densely populated urban areas could rise again next winter, but also by fundamental shifts in demand from in-office to remote workers, and by the protests following the police killing of George Floyd that have dominated New York’s streets.

Office life has been fundamentally challenged by Covid-19. Some employers have warned that social distancing measures could significantly reduce workspace, forcing a 60% reduction of daily headcount, while for many teleconferencing has proven a functional alternative to the daily commute. ...............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/12/new-york-exodus-suburbs-remote-working-pandemic-protests

[soothsayer]

1. Doesn't this happen from time to time?

[jimfields33]

2. I would think after 9/11 for sure

New York City will have problems for years. Not only the people moving away but the working at home will cause transit to continue to lose money and of course those moving away take their taxes revenue with them. New York will survive. They’ve seen worse and survived over the centuries.

[Squinch]

3. I don't think it did happen after 9/11. If I remember correctly, the prices were already

in a bit of a dip, and they didn't drop further after the attack.

I bought near the city in Sept of 01, and my recollection is that my home quickly increased in value.

[jimfields33]

4. I am sure you are right. I was off the cuff with my hazy recollection of that time.

[Initech]

5. New York will survive, everyone will survive.

COVID has upended life as we know it for the time being, but we will find a cure or a vaccine and we will get back to doing things the way we used to. Even Dr. Fauci thinks we're on track to do just that.

[appalachiablue]

6. Interesting topic, esp. since more pandemics are

forecast for the future which could initiate substantial changes.