Sensationalism helps sell news, garner headlines and win clicks. And sensationalism has reached real estate these days. Yes, we have an evolving real estate market as we went through the lockdown and emerged from it; so it is easy for some news outlets to publish partial information to make it look like the end of the world is looming.

Bloomberg reported that a quarter of the city’s apartment renters haven’t paid since March, according to the Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP). True. This does not mean that the entire 25% of the rental market has not paid rent.

It refers specifically to rent-stabilized units which are heavily regulated and subsidized to help lower income people.

It remains to be researched why these tenants did not pay rent when unemployment benefits have been very generous so far and many laid-off workers have in some instances been earning more by staying at home, believe it or not.

Sure some landlords, with their own bills to pay, are running out of savings, so the city is bracing for a shortfall of property taxes.
According to Miller Samuel, Manhattan’s vacancy rate reached 3.67 percent in June, marking a 14-year high. May had set a new record, with the rate hitting 2.88 percent. Listing inventory also reached record levels last month, with an 84.7 percent year-over-year jump to 10,789.

So yes, the situation isn’t rosy for landlords. However, the plunge in new leases witnessed in April and May — when declines largely exceeded 60 percent — began to level off. Activity in Manhattan and Queens was down 36 percent and 35 percent in June from a year ago, respectively. Brooklyn only saw a 9 percent drop. Of note, real estate agents were only allowed to show properties in person starting June 22nd.

Personally, the properties we currently have on the market for rent are receiving interest and offers that are not obscenely below pre-covid levels; but the landlord certainly needs to be pragmatic in these times.

Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel put it best: “Nobody thinks we’re going to suddenly restore to where we were before the pandemic, but the idea that in September only five people will be living in Manhattan is a false narrative.”

(source: bloomberg.com)