Manhattan real estate seems to be turning a corner as rentals started to soar this month, the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
There was a jumped to 33 percent in rentals this month after lower rent prices started to bring back people to the city, said a CNBC report.
Prices of renting in Manhattan fell back 16 percent over the last year, giving way for more rent and sales activity in the city after the COVID collapse. When the economy started to step back due to the pandemic's effects, many wondered if Manhattan will still recover from the impact.
Millions of square feet in office spaces were forced to go vacant for months, waiting for the return of workers who might decide they'd rather work from home instead. Worse, people doubted if, with the high positivity rates in the city, people will still want to rent in the area.
Forbes said New York State has the third-worst positivity rates at under 1.5 percent overall. New York City saw the worst positivity rate of around 2 percent, but the really troubling aspect of these data is that the numbers still appear to go upward across the city every week.
Some areas in Manhattan, like the Central and Lower Manhattan areas, managed to maintain positivity rates below 1.5 percent. However, some parts of Upper Manhattan exceeded 2 percent, and one zip code even reached 3.5 percent.
But more or less, the city will have to hold its own as coronavirus cases continue to surge and spiral out of control in most of the U.S.
Manhattan Attracts Younger Renters
Another CNBC report said that the lower prices seemed to have attracted new, younger renters despite office spaces and wealthy New York residents converging in the suburbs and more rural resort towns.
According to a Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel report, this was the best October Manhattan saw in the past 12 years. But there are still a record number of empty rentals and sales inventory.
On top of that, budget holes still aren't going to go away, so higher taxes still loom over buyers.
Manhattan Office Spaces Stay Amid Remote Work
According to an opinion column by Eric Kober for Business Insider, office spaces in Manhattan will still be the most valuable in the world.
Some businesses may decide it's more plausible to work remotely after giving it a shot in the pandemic and may lead to a cut in the number of office spaces they want to rent.
Residents understand that parts of the City That Never Sleeps may have to take some time off and drift from the "normal" it knew before the pandemic. But this isn't actually a new trend.
For years, businesses have been finding ways to cut back on office spaces. They started using space more efficiently by converting to open office layouts and cutting down on private offices.
These may signal good things for customers, said Kober. If businesses lower costs, their customers may also get some savings. It will increase both revenue and profits simultaneously, which means more jobs and new businesses.
Kober believes that, in time, more people can start working in the same amount of office space as before.
