Back in the beginning of 2020, when the coronavirus first started to spread worldwide, New York City quickly became one of the most severely affected parts of the country. That alone was a solid incentive for people to move to smaller towns or suburbs. Not only that but with remote work becoming a trend, many people realized the need for a bigger space.
But despite the fact that even before the pandemic New York’s population started to considerably decrease, this trend seems to be reversing and the city is getting back to its busy self. This being said, let’s look at some of the reasons why people chose to get away from the city and why the trend seems to be reversing now, all seen through the eyes of an NYC mover!
Why people chose to leave New York
It didn’t come as a surprise that the vacancy rate in New York City in December 2020 rose to 5.1%. Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens were at 1.81 percent in December 2019. The problem became so terrible that landlords had to take dramatic steps, such as free rent, to encourage landlords to sign rentals.
The outbreak of coronavirus accelerated the outflow trend. In March 2020, more than 89.000 people left New York City due to health concerns. But although many speak of a COVID exodus and with good reason since the circumstances of it sparked even further people’s incentive to move, the truth is that before this global crisis, the population of the city decreased. The lack of cheap housing, access barriers to many industries, and weak employment development in the last 10 years have resulted in a persistent population decrease. According to a Bloomberg article, every week before the outbreak, 2,600 people left the town. New York City felt impenetrable and saturated, which saw the American dream as almost unreachable.
Since the cost of living in NYC is three times the national average, for many it became impossible to handle, especially with the pandemic hitting the economic sector so hard. And even if job-loss wasn’t an issue, with the easiness of remote work and everything that made New York attractive closing, for some it just didn’t make sense anymore to sustain the high cost of living in the city.
The high costs of the city also left businesses with no option but to leave, especially as the lockdowns and quarantine rules left numerous offices predominantly in Midtown Manhattan closed. Some corporations realized that since their workers function just as well remotely, there is simply no reason to continue supporting the high costs of a New York office and simply chose to move their headquarters to cheaper areas or in some cases, even completely renounce to the idea of having a physical office.
But despite the fact that for a while there it seemed that New York lost its vibrancy and its people, things seem to be turning around.
The outflow trend has shifted. People are coming back to the city
Statistics show that the next couple of months will be the first in a long time when more individuals will move into the city than leave it behind. And for landlords that is good news regarding their own vacancies.The number of people moving back is predicted to exceed the number of people moving to New York City for the first time ever since January of 2019.
Unfortunately for the rental market, landlords may still have to take initiatives to attract tenants such as competitive rent or other perks. But if this trend continues, the vacancy rate in the city might start moving in the correct direction. Statistics done by moving companies point to the fact that people will come back to New York City when circumstances improve in relation to the pandemic. In addition, assuming that more and more businesses will resume normal activity, people that migrated away from the city during the pandemic may be forced to return to the city.
Those who left found themselves re-examining their metropolitan lives by their pre-pandemic patterns. Many found themselves asking if they still want to live in the city and many of them obviously chose not to. Many activities such as baking, gardening and padding around a house larger than two rooms sounded a lot more like what they needed. But New York still has a lot of charm and a lot of opportunities to offer. Be it old residents missing the busy life or fresh-out-of-college dreamers looking to make a life in the city, the migration back seems to be happening slowly but surely.
About the Author
Michaela Smith is the marketing director at EMPIRE MOVERS, a well-established residential and commercial moving company in New York City, with over 15 years of experience in both local and long distance moving.