Apartment Prices Near Manhattan’s Prominent Office Towers Are Crashing

Apartments getting the biggest discounts in New York City are officially the ones closest to office buildings. In what is likely an ugly piece of foreshadowing for office prices in the city, Bloomberg found that the “office you never go to anymore” appears to not only be abandoned, but a black hole for the surrounding apartment prices. 

In comparing rental listing prices, Bloomberg’s report found that:

• Manhattan had the biggest share of rental listings discounted from their original asking price in the second quarter

• The Flatiron area had the borough’s largest portion of reductions, with 45%

• In Midtown West and the Financial District, 40% and 42% of apartments got price cuts, respectively

• Outermost sections of Brooklyn and Queens had much lower rates of discounting in the quarter

• The share was 8.6% in Brooklyn’s Coney Island

• In Queens, 13% of Flushing rentals were reduced

The bargains correspond to areas of the city where people left as a result of the pandemic. These areas are closest to some of the city’s most prominent office towers and “aren’t as appealing to renters now” that everyone is working from home as a result of the coronavirus.

Prices may continue along the same trend for a while, too, as the new paradigm of working from home may wind up holding steady once the pandemic passes, some experts have estimated. “Indefinite. Or even permanent. These are words companies are using about their employees working from home,” NPR wrote in an article about the growing trend several weeks ago.

Nancy Wu, an economist with StreetEasy said: “Those who are staying in the city are looking for more space and more affordability.”

To map the discounts, Bloomberg has created an interactive map that allows viewers to compare things like median sale price, price change, listing discount and several other factors for nearly any neighborhood in New York.

You can view the interactive map, in full, here.