Reopen News: Real estate bubble 'slowly deflating' in NYC due to COVID

TRIBECA, Manhattan (WABC) -- A duplex is one of seven vacant apartments at 84 White Street in TriBeCa. And while many landlords choose to have leases end in the summer, this summer is shaping up to be the summer of vacancies.

"With COVID a lot of people didn't want to renew, they want to take a break from the city," said Kemdi Anosike, of Warburg Realty.

"The amount of listings that came on the market last week was 580 or so which is about a 93% increase compared to a year ago," said John Walkup, of UrbanDigs.

UrbanDigs is a real estate data company. COVID-19 essentially caused the market to go dormant for spring, and now that agents can finally show properties there's pent up supply, and less demand.

So, renters may find some price drops or sweeteners like a free month or broker fees paid for, but don't expect the deal of the century, at least not yet.

"We've never been in a pandemic to figure out how to list an apartment," Anosike said. "There we are four to five months into it, no one knows where the market is."

Where it is and where it's going, but ultimately, vacancies of any kind don't bode well for the city.

"Having high vacancies, lower tax revenues," Walkup said. "It's one of these where the bubble isn't necessarily popping, it is slowly deflating."

And that duplex at 84 White Street can be yours for $9,700 a month, down $200 from the previous lease.

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Suddenly, the brutal death of George Floyd while in the custody of police officers in Minneapolis filled the streets of a nation with rage and sorrow. New York was no different. Protesters put the fear of the virus aside and took to the streets by the thousands. Abandoning the safety and comfort of social distance, to demand social change.

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