New Yorkers are moving out — here
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Go east, young man
Of those, 5,000 were changed to Fairfield County, compared to 765 in all of 2019.
The numbers don’t necessarily reflect new home-buyers coming into the state and include both individuals and entire family units. Short- or long-term renters, or those who own multiple properties and are shifting their primary residence, may also request a change in address.
However, the data indicates the people were planning to stay in Connecticut for at least a little while, since these were requests for address changes and not just those looking to have their mail temporarily forwarded.
According to Paul Breunich, president and CEO of William Pitt and Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty, an independent analysis conducted by his brokerage of New York City buyers confirms trends evident in the USPS data.
Since mid-April, 33 percent of buyers in Fairfield County, 31 percent in Litchfield County and 9 percent on the Shoreline have come from New York City, the analysis found.
“I’ve been in business for 30 years — this is a market that I have never seen before from a demand standpoint,” Breunich said. “We have our normal demand, but then we’ve got an unforeseen demand coming from New York City. Our opinion is it’s a direct result of the pandemic and also the social unrest that’s been going on.”
The sudden interest has sent ripples through the market, several brokers said.
“We were low on inventory anyway — now we’re really low,” said Tammy Felenstein, a real estate agent with Halstead in Stamford and first vice president of the Connecticut Association of Realtors. “Stamford is down nearly half of where we’d normally be. Every town is down about 30 to 50 percent of its inventory. And houses coming on the market have multiple offers.”
According to Felenstein, those departing New York cover several demographic groups — though she’s seen a large number of families. Certain locales, she said, appeared more popular, at least until recently.
“Honestly, Stamford probably is not having quite as good of a reaction, because back in April, it was a hot spot for the coronavirus,” Felenstein said. “So I think people coming from Manhattan, especially affluent people, were looking to go to more tony towns — like Darien and New Canaan.”
But has the wave crested? Or will it continue to rise?
“That’s the crystal ball question,” Breunich said. “My opinion is that it’s here to last for the foreseeable future.”
That’s the conundrum all of us face in advising our clients: is this a long term phenomenon or an ephemeral burst one would be foolish to buy into? We’re six months into the WuHan Flu and still have no clear idea of what’s happening or what is likely to happen, so I don’t believe we can offer our clients even an informed opinion, just a shrug of the shoulders, a guess, and a prayer.
