Greg Williamson on NYC's Real Estate Market During COVID-19

Every day, the climate across all industries is changing rapidly. COVID-19 has created a fluid environment in all aspects of our lives, certainly with respect to how we conduct our professions and how each business has been impacted.

As a long-time New York City real estate broker, I would like to address the changes I have witnessed in the local real estate market over the last two months.

The Shift to Virtual Showings

First, showings are now being conducted virtually. While the vast majority of deals are buyers who are revisiting the market virtually (after initial Pre-COVID viewings), we are now starting to see buyers transact with the virtual showing being the first point of contact. When the pandemic first struck, and showings were restricted, the market was quiet, similar to the majority of businesses across New York City, the United States, and the world as a whole. Now people are beginning to adjust and, at least for certain buyers, there is a real need to move.

The Rare Buyers' Market

Also, savvy buyers see this as an opportunity to close on a property at a very attractive price point. It has been a sellers' market for a long time in New York City (even when sellers didn’t think it was), but the tables have now definitely turned. Zooms, in particular, have become an excellent tool for engaging with clients and making sure that purchasers see all aspects of the product being offered.

As New York City will likely begin the reopening phase in the near future, in-person showings (with stringent safety precautions, of course) will begin to resume. I suspect that some buyers will still sit on the sidelines while others will enter the market, and some who have become comfortable with the virtual experience will continue to purchase properties sight unseen.

We are entering a new world with the rise of COVID-19, and it is my belief that some changes were destined to happen even without this pandemic fast tracking those changes. Other aspects of the buying and selling process will feel like a “new normal” in the early stages of the re-opening. However, once this chapter of history is finally behind us, many of these aspects are likely to return to something closely resembling our previous way of life. Many past events have caused people to say that “things will never be the same”. While they are right in a way given the natural evolution of life and technology, history shows us that things have a way of returning to normal once the threat has passed.

The professionals who embrace the areas of evolution while perfecting the more regular aspects of their respective crafts are the ones who will be set up to succeed. This is the challenge now facing me and my colleagues in the real estate industry during these truly unprecedented times. From my interactions across the industry, I have the utmost confidence that we as an industry will meet and defeat it.

Greg Williamson is a licensed real estate broker at Douglas Elliman Real Estate, a producer of live music events such as annual charity benefit concert Love Rocks NYC as the co-founder of UpperWest Music Group, and a supporter of nonprofit organizations local to his hometown of New York City and nationally. Greg is married to Katy Yulman Williamson, and together they have 2 children.