Name: Connecticut becomes a top destination for people moving out of New York following the coronavirus outbreak
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Connecticut becomes a top destination for people moving out of New York following the coronavirus outbreak

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AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantMay 25, 2020 at 6:00 amAfter 12 years living in New York City, the Baust family is more than ready to move out. Ed Baust and his wife are closing on a house in Greenwich and planning to move with their 4-year-old son and the family dog in June.AdvertisementWhile the couple considered an eventual move out of the city, Baust said the coronavirus pandemic accelerated their plans. With office buildings shut down, he has spent weekdays working on his laptop in the couple’s bedroom, while his wife looks after their son, who has online preschool sessions.Advertisement“There’s no restaurants, no nightlife, no shopping. ...You’re basically crammed into your apartment, that you’re paying a lot of money for, just to sort of be here,” he said about living in New York during the pandemic. "Why are we doing this, if we could be living with a yard, in a community where people are not so on top of one another?”The Baust family is one of thousands who have recently left or planning their departure from New York City following the outbreak of coronavirus, many turning to Connecticut. The city saw a quick exodus of people as businesses shut down their offices and facilities in early March, many heading toward the suburbs at least temporarily.But realtors are seeing an unexpected increase in long-term stays and home purchases, with FlatRate Moving company reporting an increase in moves between March 15 and April 28 from New York to Connecticut jump by 74% over the same period in 2019. In the same two months, the United States Post Office saw a sharp increase in the number of New York City residents submitting mail-forwarding requests for new addresses, the New York Times. At least 2,962 of those new addresses are in Connecticut.“The phones of the real estate brokers are ringing off the hooks," particularly in Fairfield county, Gov. Ned Lamont told the Courant in a recent interview.The metropolitan areas around Bridgeport, Stamford, and Norwalk tied for third with Philadelphia as a top destination for New Yorkers moving out of the city, with 1,456 mail-forwarding requests, according to the New York Times data. The Torrington area ranked 10th in the country with 644 requests, the Hartford region ranked 15th with 448 requests, and the New Haven and Milford areas ranked 20th with 414 requests.“From what I’m hearing, they want outside space, they want yard space, they want more room between houses. That’s become a real issue now,” Joanne Breen, president of the Connecticut Association of Realtors, said, adding that the shoreline and Litchfield county are also popular spots for city-dwellers looking to move to Connecticut. “I’ve even heard people...want their own vegetable gardens. They don’t want to be subjected to going to the grocery store and not finding the produce that they were looking for.”The Baust family wanted to stay close enough to New York for Ed’s work, settling on the Riverside section of Greenwich where they previously visited friends. An executive vice president of Knoll furniture dealer Office Resources, Baust will see an increase in his commute by about 25 minutes, but he said the overall benefits will be worth it. That will be especially true if, like many offices, his place of work doesn’t require people in the office every day post-pandemic and he isn’t commuting as much.Advertisement“Everything went at lighting speed,” Baust said of the plans to move once the family discussed the benefits. “Now we’re in contract.”For some, the move from New York to Connecticut began as temporary. When office employees were sent home for what they thought would be a couple weeks, many found respite in short-term rentals along the shore or in Litchfield County, said Halstead real estate agent Tammy Felenstein, who works in Stamford.“That sort of evolved into long term rentals. ... As the weeks went on, we started seeing a conversion from rental requests to purchase requests, which is what we’re dealing with now,” she said. Clients living in the city’s boroughs, spending $4,000-$7,000 a month on rent are “realizing that for that kind of money, they can get something really, really nice in Fairfield county.”According to Mark Gilrain, president of the Mid-Fairfield Association of Realtors, which covers Norwalk, Westport, Weston, and Wilton, yearly rentals in the area have been “turbocharged,” at 14% higher year-to-date, compared to 2019. Summer and all other rentals are 280% of last year’s volume, he added.In terms of sales, the first half of April was low compared to 2019, he said, while they rebounded in the second half. When put in the context of inventory that is down 30% from last year, “We are actually selling 11.5% more of the available homes this year as compared to last,” he said, noting some buyers are purchasing properties based solely off of remote video tours.Transitioning from rentals to buying comes as mortgage rates are near an all-time low. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year loan declined to 3.24% from 3.28% last week. A year ago, the rate stood at 4.06%.AdvertisementMatt Healy, a Guilford realtor and professional development leader at Page Taft, described a similar situation further East along the shoreline.“You have people who have paid upwards of $1 million for a tiny apartment in the city and they’re working from home,” he said. “[They realize], ‘For $800,000, I can get a five-bedroom, 4,000 square-foot house that’s walking distance to the beach.’ ”Realtors said some New Yorkers who already have summer homes in Connecticut by the shoreline are making those second properties their primary residences and letting their city apartment leases expire.Healy noted that even without COVID-19, low interest rates created a “pent-up demand.” At this time of year, he estimated Guilford would normally have about 275-300 single family homes on the market. However, the town’s inventory is low.“We’re already starting to trickle upwards in every category, in every town across the shoreline,” he said. “With low rates and low inventory, we’re set for a strong market on the buy side and the sell side.”As many employees continue working from home, some brokers reported that clients are not as concerned with extreme proximity to the city as they once were.AdvertisementBreen recalled a similar wave of New Yorkers moving to Connecticut after 9/11. Following the tragedy, she saw an uptick that lasted about six months to a year. But she anticipates a longer timeframe for those moving because of COVID-19, as the public remains concerned about whether there will be a vaccine in the near future.“If we don’t have it by the fall, is this going to be this whole way of living rolling over into next year?” she said.Scott Cooney, brokerage manager for Coldwell Banker in Danbury, sees a similar trend. Residents living in New York City are often stacked on top of each other, using shared elevators and spaces and walking through droves of strangers to get to their destination, often using public transportation.With social distancing now on the forefront of people’s concerns, space has become a luxury.Advertisement“Now what we’re seeing is folks saying, you know what, I need to slow down, I need a better quality of life,” he said. “I need more space.”Cooney said he expected a 75% downturn in business due to the pandemic. Instead, his company posted its best April ever, up 39% from their normal numbers, and is expected to carry that trend into July.“Our biggest issues are lack of inventory,” he said. “We have sellers who are saying, ‘You know I want to wait until the pandemic ends to put my property on the market, I’m sure there’s not a lot of people out there looking.’ Quite frankly, that’s not the case.”Cooney described those in the market for housing as qualified buyers, and the type who are willing to tour a property with masks and gloves in the midst of a pandemic.“Don’t be sitting on the sideline being afraid, we can do it safely,” he said. “We’re seeing appreciation in pricing because of multiple bidding.”Cooney has seen other brackets of housing turn into multiple-bidder situations, and singled out a $430,000 property that has turned into a triple-bidder situation, with prospective buyers ranging from a couple in their late 20’s to another in their mid 60’s.AdvertisementHe has however seen a wave of “high net-worth folks” entering Connecticut’s housing market, and “tripping over each other” for property.“It’s kind of a blend of people who all have the same concerns about safety and quality of life,” he said.As it happensGet the latest updates on Coronavirus and other breaking news events happening across Connecticut &gt; Felenstein added that the demand for space could bolster properties with more acreage in towns like North Stamford and New Canaan, “tough markets” that have not recently attracted retiring baby boomers looking to downsize or millennials who value downtown walk-ability.“I think these back-country neighborhoods and towns are going to see a resurgence,” she said, adding that new residents may be able to help economic activity. “Connecticut never really recovered after the last recession, and I feel like we’re kind of due for this uptick.”Advertisement Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantMay 25, 2020 at 6:00 amAfter 12 years living in New York City, the Baust family is more than ready to move out. Ed Baust and his wife are closing on a house in Greenwich and planning to move with their 4-year-old son and the family dog in June.AdvertisementWhile the couple considered an eventual move out of the city, Baust said the coronavirus pandemic accelerated their plans. With office buildings shut down, he has spent weekdays working on his laptop in the couple’s bedroom, while his wife looks after their son, who has online preschool...

Connecticut becomes a top destination for people moving out of New York following the coronavirus outbreak

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