In the first week since New York State announced a stay-at-home order to help fight coronavirus, real estate listings in Manhattan have plunged and the spring buying season has ground to a halt.
Since March 20, the day Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the executive order, just 66 homes were listed for sale in Manhattan, an 85 percent drop compared to the same period last year, when 428 listings came to market, according to UrbanDigs, a real-estate data company.
Real estate agents, who have been deemed nonessential workers, have been unable to schedule showings and in many cases are barred from co-ops and condos, where the buildings have adopted strict entry policies.
The virus is not only keeping new sellers on the sidelines, but leading many to pull their listings from public view altogether, said Noah Rosenblatt, the chief executive and founder of UrbanDigs.
With just a few days left to the month, 1,074 listings had been taken off the market in Manhattan, compared to just 417 in all of March 2019. There were 5,882 active listings for sale in Manhattan on March 26, down 12.8 percent from the same time last year.
“If you look at 2009, the market did the same exact thing,” Mr. Rosenblatt said, referring to the high number of sellers who simply gave up when the Great Recession took hold.
“Everything came to a screeching halt last week,” said Barbara Fox, the president of Fox Residential, a New York brokerage. While measures have been taken by the state to ensure that closings can proceed — for instance, allowing virtual alternatives for typically in-person requirements, like appraisals and notarization — there are still several steps in the sales process without simple solutions.
“I just can’t imagine people are going to be buying apartments from a video,” Ms. Fox said, referring to virtual house tours via FaceTime and other apps.
Agents say the extent of the damage to the real estate industry will depend largely on how long the stay-at-home protocol is enforced, but added that the timing is terrible.
The real estate market, especially the high-end, has been softening since prices peaked around 2016. The first quarter of the year showed signs of improvement, before the virus arrived, said Jonathan Miller, a New York real estate appraiser. Many agents expect the second quarter, typically a bright spot for sellers, to erase those gains.
“It’s like a retail store losing Christmas,” said Mr. Miller. “That’s really what this is.”
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