May 20, 2020
31 Lakeview Avenue 31
Could New Canaan see a surge in home sales because of the COVID-19 health crisis?
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont certainly thinks it’s possible in some of the state’s communities that he says are part of the New York City “ecosystem”. In an interview Friday, May 15th on the CNBC program “Squawk Box”, Lamont said he expects many Connecticut cities will see a surge in home sales as people move out of New York in search of more spacious homes and property in Fairfield County.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic started and people have spent the better part of the last three months telecommuting from their homes, Lamont said it’s made people realize that “having a nice little backyard is not a bad way to do it.”
Lamont’s observations appear to coincide perfectly with the recent website launch by the New Canaan Board of Realtors that focuses on all the reasons people should move to the community, and why people who currently live here are in no hurry to leave.
The site, LiveNewCanaan.org promotes the town’s many virtues, including the ability for people to buy a great house at an accessible price. If Lamont is correct about people leaving New York for less crowded communities in Fairfield County and beyond, New Canaan could be a perfect landing place for people looking to buy a home.
As Connecticut slowly begins to ease some of its coronavirus-related restrictions this week, Lamont said phones at real estate offices throughout the southern part of the state were “ringing off the hook” with people seeking safe haven outside New York.
Reports indicate real estate brokers in areas surrounding New York were seeing an increase in activity, but how long that trend continues -- if at all -- remains to be seen. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, many New Yorkers moved out of the city but those people were quickly replaced by foreign investors buying property or young executives who came to the city to work.