via Patch

By Lanning Tallaferro | October 29, 2020

It's no secret that the coronavirus pandemic has led many New York City residents to leave the city — the New York Times has been reporting on the phenomenon for months.

And while the Hudson Valley economy has taken a hit, the real estate markets in Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, and Orange counties recovered from the spring shutdown and were thriving by the third quarter of 2020.

"There are many buyers as well as renters coming up from NYC, but also local buyers who want to lock in the extraordinarily low-interest rates for the next 30 years of owning a home," Gail Fattizzi, president of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors, told Patch at the beginning of the third quarter. "I think the whole value of homeownership, and the specific needs of buyers, has changed due to the pandemic."

Single-family residential sales gain in Putnam was 8 percent over the third quarter of 2019. Third-quarter sales in Rockland were up 4.8 percent. Orange County sales were up 7.9 percent, according to the OneKey Multiple Listing Service 3rd Quarter Report.

Westchester County, the largest county in the region, also saw the biggest gain, 12 percent, for single-family residential sales.

Residential brokerage Houlihan Lawrence, which has been tracking local buyer data for years, has analyzed exactly which Westchester markets experienced a strong influx of homebuyers from NYC.

The most popular Westchester markets for NYC buyers were the Sound Shore (Rye, Rye Neck, Port Chester, Harrison, Mamaroneck/Larchmont) and Northern Westchester (Bedford, Armonk, Chappaqua, Pound Ridge, North Salem), said Liz Nunan, President, and CEO of Houlihan Lawrence.

In particular, Rye, Mamaroneck, Bedford, and Irvington showed a significant percentage increase in sales by New York City residents.

In Bedford, the percent of NYC buyers rose to 43 percent from 11 percent, a stunning 291 percent increase year-over-year.

Brendon DeSimone, manager of Houlihan Lawrence's Bedford/Pound Ridge office, said his office has seen incredible interest from New York City buyers in the past six months, specially families.

"We heard many buyers say that they couldn't imagine bringing their kids back to New York City," he said. "People can now work remotely at least half the time or more. They can commute to the city during off hours, attend a few meetings and get back home without the stress of a Monday through Friday daily commute. They like that option. It's become the best of both worlds."

Year-to-date, 54 percent of the NYC buyers were from Manhattan and 18 percent from Brooklyn, the data showed.

"The Brooklyn/Manhattan buyers have always been drawn to us," said Terra Corning, manager of Houlihan Lawrence's Larchmont office. "We seem to have just enough space, and yet not too much space. We are also very much a walking community which includes the neighborhood style elementary schools. And the train is never too far which is great for those optimistic about getting back into the City."

More than a third of the homebuyers in Westchester in the third quarter of 2020 hailed from NYC. That's up from 26 percent this time last year.

In Putnam County, the percentage of third quarter NYC buyers rose to 33 percent, nearly twice as many as last year, Houlihan Lawrence reported.

Hudson Gateway's report said the region was continuing to have a shortage of inventory for sale.

That means desirable properties began seeing multiple offers in many cases, and even properties that have been languishing on the market for many months were starting to sell, Fattizzi said.

"Much of our population is spending a lot more time at home ... it's now our world - work, school, exercise, entertaining, meals - it's all done at home," she said. "So people are investing more of their income in their home, and looking to increase space, have access to the outdoors, have room for all those activities, and steer away from crowded urban areas. In some cases they may be looking to be closer to family, or maybe now have more flexibility on location because of more work-from-home options and less commuting."