Summary
- Some people reading this will automatically jump to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s defense.
- Some will automatically do the opposite.
- While I’m not going to wade into that fray in this article, I will say that, yes, short-term, leadership will make a very big impact.
- On the other hand, I tend to side with Jerry Seinfeld on the subject.
- This idea was discussed in more depth with members of my private investing community, iREIT on Alpha. Get started today »
“Manhattan Apartment Sales Drop by 46% in Third Quarter, Leaving 10,000 Units Unsold!”
That was a Fox Business headline from Oct. 5 (minus the exclamation mark). And it wasn’t alone in declaring the death of New York City, or at least strongly implying it.
The Wall Street Journal published these two headlines on Sept. 29 and Oct. 4, respectively:
- “Manhattan Offices Are Nearly Empty, Threatening New York City’s Recovery”
- “Business Leaders Feel Sidelined in New York City’s Recovery.”
Forbes featured “Some Manhattan Landlords Offer New Tenants Free Rent Through 2020 Amid Glut of Empty Apartments.” And then there was that James Altucher declaration from mid August that New York City is “dead forever.”
(You can learn more about Altucher here on Seeking Alpha.)
This all seems very reasonable in light of the Oct. 6 announcement from CBS News: “New York Governor Ordering Schools in 9 Coronavirus Hot Spots to Close, NYC Asks to Close Non-Essential Businesses.”
All that doom and gloom is due to COVID-19, of course, which hit the city hard.
As of the morning of Oct. 6, there had been 213,462 recorded coronavirus-related deaths in the United States. In total, 32,827 were in New York state – a full 15% despite it accounting for only 6.1% of the national population.
Worse yet, according to www1.nyc.gov, there were at least 19,216 in the Big Apple alone. There’s no way around how the city has been hit exceptionally hard.
