New Jersey Real Estate Report

From Apple, this time looking at NYC:

From the NY Post:

Nearly half of NYC’s top earners have considered fleeing the city: poll

Nearly half of New York City residents earning six figures or more have considered fleeing the Big Apple during the coronavirus crisis over cost-of-living concerns, according to a new poll.

Researchers with the Siena College Research Institute and Manhattan Institute surveyed 782 city dwellers making $100,000 or more about life in the age of COVID-19.

In results released Wednesday, the survey, conducted between July 13 and Aug. 3, found that 44 percent have thought of leaving the city in the past four months, with 69 percent citing cost of living as the main reason to move.

Quality of life in the city that never sleeps has taken a hit, too, during the pandemic. Just under 4 in 10 respondents said quality of life is now “excellent or good” — a plunge from 79 percent who felt that way pre-coronavirus.

And it could be because many feel like there’s no end in sight — nearly 7 in 10 polled believe it “will take longer than a year” for life to return to normal.

The study also gave insight as to how many top earners are working from home. A majority of respondents, 53 percent, are now calling their abode their new office, while 21 percent aren’t working at all — though the poll notes they could be retired, furloughed, independently wealthy and receiving passive income.

And the bulk of them (65 percent) believe working from home is Gotham’s new normal, with 30 percent of respondents citing the new setup as a driving force behind wanting to get out of Dodge.

From MarketWatch:

‘It’s a five-alarm fire, a 100-year fiscal tsunami’

As fall descends on their virus-weary city, New Yorkers have some fresh reasons for optimism.

More people are out on the sidewalks. Gyms are open again. Though Broadway’s still dark and Manhattan CEOs are grumbling about “widespread anxiety,” many offices aren’t quite as empty as they were before Labor Day. Meanwhile, indoor dining and classroom learning are both set to return by the end of the month—with restrictions.

But there’s still a big missing piece in the complex puzzle of New York’s slow resurgence, and transit officials are struggling mightily to fit it back in. The subway is still a relative ghost town.

“Come back,” Patrick Foye, chairman and CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was saying a couple of hours after Gov. Andrew Cuomo instituted new $50 fines on Thursday for anyone caught on a train or in a station without a face mask.

Is the subway safe?

“Absolutely,” Foye said.

From Politico:

How Covid-19 made New Jersey’s Phil Murphy the most powerful governor in America

New Jersey endows its governors with the most executive power in the nation. Chris Christie knew it and used that broad authority to become a hero of the Republican Party — a state-level strongman who forced Democrats to do his will or face his wrath.

Few thought Phil Murphy, his Democratic successor, would consolidate that power even further. Murphy struggled early on to move his progressive agenda through the solidly Democratic Legislature. Rival factions formed to oppose him. His signature proposal — a new tax on millionaires — was rejected twice.

Now, six months into a global pandemic that’s shattered the state’s economy and killed roughly 16,000 residents, Murphy has become one of the most popular governors in New Jersey history — and discovered just how much say he has over the state and its government.

The question is, how long can it last?

From the Star Ledger:

N.J. was just approved for the new $300 unemployment benefit. But you’ll have to wait to get it.

New Jersey was approved late Friday for an expanded $300unemployment benefit created by President Donald Trump after Congress couldn’t agree on a new stimulus plan.

But that doesn’t mean the payments will reach unemployed residents any time soon.

It took Gov. Phil Murphy several weeks to decide to apply for the benefit, which was announced on Aug. 7. The state didn’t apply until Aug. 26, in part because of confusion over how the program would be implemented.

Because the funding comes from FEMA, federal rules don’t allow the state to use existing unemployment systems or employees to distribute the funds. That means it will take time before the state can process the payments.

Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo said the payments probably won’t be distributed until October, and it will probably come as a lump sum rather than as a weekly payment.

We haven’t taken a look at the mobility snapshot in a few weeks. Very interesting trends! Congratulations NJ – Keep Walking!

From Eater:

New Jersey Will Start Indoor Dining on Friday, While NYC Restaurants Still Have No Plan

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has announced that the state’s restaurants will be allowed to resume indoor dining starting on Friday. Similar to NYC, the state was originally supposed to resume indoor dining at the beginning of July, but plans were postponed due to concerns about indoor dining and the spread of COVID-19.

To start, restaurants will be limited to 25 percent indoor capacity and tables have to be spaced at least six feet apart, according to NJ.com. Customers will also be required to wear a mask unless they are eating or have underlying health issues, and they will have to provide a phone number if making a reservation in order to help with contact tracing if necessary. 

Taking a similar approach as NYC restaurateurs, New Jersey restaurants have been campaigning hard to push the governor to announce a plan for the return of indoor dining. On Monday, Gov. Murphy said on Twitterthat “reopening responsibly will help us restore one of our state’s key industries” while continuing to fight COVID-19.

Nearby, NYC restaurants are still without a plan for indoor dining. The news now makes NYC the only part of the tri-state area still banned from indoor dining, as Connecticut and the rest of New York state were allowed to start indoor dining earlier this summer. Philadelphia is set to start indoor dining on September 8.

In a press conference on Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that he is “aware of the competitive disadvantage” that NYC restaurants are at while indoor dining remains off the table in the city. But he’s first watching to see how events like Labor Day and the reopening of schools play out before making a decision, and he’s also monitoring the upcoming flu season. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio shared similar sentiments last week about waiting to see how things go with the schools reopening before considering a return to indoor dining.

“I want as much economic activity as quickly as possible,” Cuomo said at the press conference. “We also want to make sure the transmission rate stays under control. That is the tension. We’re trying to find the balance, and we’re calibrating every day.”

From the Jersey Journal:

Hudson County real estate market thrives as NYC couples, families, continue migrating for more value

For years, Hudson County real estate has enticed scores of New Yorkers to ditch the Big Apple in favor of more space and lower rents without sacrificing city access.

The coronavirus pandemic seems to be accelerating those migrations.

As New York City real estate suffers amid the pandemic, with vacancy rates spiking and rents falling, Hudson County’s market has continued to flourish, industry professionals say. In recent months it’s proven to be a haven for both renters and prospective buyers who are working from home and looking to spread out.

…

Average rent in Jersey City during April, May and June was up by 0.2% from the same time last year, according to Apartment Guide’s mid-year rent report. Meanwhile, in Manhattan, average rent was down about 6% between July 2020 and July 2019, according to the Douglas Elliman real estate company, signalling less demand for rentals. That difference grew to 10% when landlord concessions were included.

“There’s a certain appeal to not being in Manhattan and saving the money and being near transportation,” said Jonathan Kushner, president of Kushner Real Estate Group. “We’re very definitely seeing some tenants saying, ‘I don’t want to be in Manhattan right now with everything going on … we feel safer here. There’s more space.’”

…

About 40% of renters who move into brand new buildings in Hudson County are relocating from Manhattan, Kushner said, adding that his firm has seen a slight uptick in that percentage during the pandemic.

From the Star Ledger:

Murphy hopes some N.J. indoor dining will reopen before mid-September

With the state’s gyms allowed to reopen with restrictions next Tuesday, Gov. Phil Murphy said he hopes to permit some indoor dining at bars and restaurants by the middle of next month as coronavirus numbers continue to improve.

Murphy was asked Wednesday during his latest coronavirus briefing in Trenton whether rumors are true about a Sept. 14 or 15 target date for the state to allow limited indoor dining.

The governor said he “hadn’t heard” that date but stressed “I hope it’s before then.”

“I hope that we’ve got some indoor dining before then,” Murphy said. “I’m not hanging my hat on it. I’m not trying to make news. That’s not a date I’m using at least.”

But, he said, “if data we look at stays as good as it is, I hope we beat that date.”

The governor also said it’s likely movie theaters will be allowed to reopen in New Jersey at the same time.

“My guess is, if I had to predict now, they will move at the same time, whenever that is,” Murphy said.

6 months…

From ROINJ:

Gov. Murphy, asking for some internet friends: Where is COVID finish line?

I didn’t intend for my tweet to start a Twitter storm. To be honest, I didn’t think it would draw as much attention as my shameless pic of some pretty good-looking fajitas I had whipped up Saturday night.

I was simply responding to a Saturday afternoon tweet by Gov. Phil Murphy — one in which he said the state is “not over the finish line” despite having dropped from 8,013 hospitalizations to 376.

I tweeted: “Not trying to be a wise guy, but is it fair to ask, ‘Where is the finish line?’ This is the frustration I hear from the business community.”

In the next 24 hours, I was bombarded by more than 150 likes, retweets and comments — that’s a lot for me. Clearly, I had struck a nerve. And no one thought I was being a wise guy.

Of course, the internet being the internet, you never what you’re going to get. Or from whom. Here’s what I got.

Some offered an answer, saying Murphy had given a finish line: When there’s a vaccine.

I’m not so sure about that. I’ve listened to all but a handful of his briefings, and that has never come up.

Many — including Pat Rowe, a former councilman from Madison — said the finish line was election day.

From CNBC:

July home sales spike a record 24.7% as prices set a new high

Sales of existing homes soared 24.7% in July from June, according to the National Association of Realtors. 

That’s the strongest monthly gain in the history of the survey, going back to 1968, and the highest sales pace since December 2006.

Sales were 8.7% higher from July 2019. 

The numbers represent closed sales, meaning contracts signed in May and June. 

The increase in sales came as supply fell, prices rose and mortgage rates stayed low.

The supply of existing homes plummeted 21.1% annually, with just 1.5 million homes for sale at the end of July. This represents a 3.1-month supply at the current sales pace, down from a 4.2-month supply a year earlier. It’s the lowest July supply in the history of the inventory survey, which has been tracking single-family supply data since 1982.

“The new listings are running a little higher than one year ago but all those new listings are being grabbed by the buyers and taken off the market,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors.

That shortage drove the median price of a home sold in July up 8.5% annually to $304,100. This is a record high nominal price but also the highest price when adjusted for inflation. When adjusted, it is 3.4% higher than the bubble high set in 2006, when mortgage lending was loose and borrowers could buy a home with no down payment and little to no financial documentation. 

From ABC News:

NJ restaurant officials call on Gov. Murphy for timeline for indoor dining

The New Jersey Restaurant Association is calling on Governor Phil Murphy to give them a timeline for indoor dining as they try to prepare for cooler weather.

The Bistro at Haddonfield had a full lunch crowd with Tuesday’s mild weather, and even with ample sidewalk seating, there was a wait for a table.

But owners say on the not so nice days, there are big challenges with indoor dining still not allowed in New Jersey.

“It started raining around 7:00 p.m.,” said owner Nick Lavdas, recalling a recent storm. “I had a full house. I didn’t know what to do. I was packing up food.”

On King’s Highway, Villa Rosa Restaurant sits empty after the owners closed over the weekend because of COVID-19 related financial strain. A GoFundMe is now up and running, as management hopes to reopen in another location.

The New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association says with current restrictions in place, more closures are bound to follow.

…

Monday, the association called on Murphy to give an anticipated date for when indoor dining might be allowed again.

“It’s been said to me that going out to eat is a luxury, it’s not important. That’s not what this is about. This is about the 25,000 small business owners in this state and their 350,000 employees,” said Halvorsen.

At P.J. Whelihan’s in Cherry Hill, management worries about the cold winter months, saying it’s especially frustrating when their Pennsylvania restaurants can offer indoor dining at 25% capacity.

“When the weather does start to chill down, we’re going to lose our outdoor dining. So we need to have some sort of a plan. What are we going to do? said Mike Perro, director of New Jersey operations for the PJW Restaurant Group.

From MarketWatch:

Did the expired $600 federal jobless benefit keep people from going back to work?

Did generous unemployment benefits discourage many workers from returning to their jobs? A big drop in people seeking or receiving benefits in the past two weeks after the end of a $600 federal stipend hints the answer might be yes.

Initial jobless claims fell to 963,000 in early August, a decline of almost 500,000 from two weeks earlier. New applications had largely been flat at around 1.5 million a week from June to mid-July.

The number of peopled receving benefits, meanwhile, tumbled by 1.5 million in the last two weeks of July to 15.49 million just as the benefit was expiring. That’s the lowest level for these so-called continuing claims since early April.

Some economists say it’s no coincidence new and continuing applications for benefits began to tumble right around the July 31 expiration of the federal stipend.

“This is not rocket science, folks. When you pay people more to sit at home than to go back to work, they sit at home,” said chief economist Stephen Stanley of Amherst Pierpont Securities. “When you don’t, if they are offered a job, they go back to work.”

From InsiderNJ:

NJ Business Coalition Urges Governor to Let New Jersey Reopen for Business

With coronavirus numbers in the state declining, the New Jersey Business Coalition, a collection of more than 100 business and nonprofit groups, submitted a letter to Gov. Phil Murphy today urging him to end the “pause mode” of the reopening of New Jersey’s businesses.

The coalition’s Recovery and Reinvention Framework 2.0, a comprehensive update to the original framework issued in early May, points to improving numbers in reported cases, decreased hospitalizations and better capacity in the state’s healthcare facilities and strongly encourages a broader or regional reopening of New Jersey’s economy.

The letter states: “If ‘data determines dates’ relative to reopening, as Governor Murphy has consistently said, it is appropriate that as our COVID-19 cases continue to go down, New Jersey’s economic numbers should rise. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and we find ourselves and our economy in an unnecessary and extenuated ‘pause mode.’

“With a rate of transmission of .98 and a positivity rate of 1.6%, there is no reason not to proceed to reopen our economy.”

Absent an immediate move to continue the reopening process, the coalition called on Gov. Murphy to immediately present plans for three coronavirus-based scenarios, with triggers driving levels of reopening activity, to allow businesses to properly plan for whatever comes next.

The coalition also called for a regional approach to opening, based on data, if there is not a willingness to fully reopen the state for business.

“Decisive action is needed immediately so businesses will know whether to plan for a further reopening now or a prolonged limit on their business, necessitating greater government support,” the coalition explained.

“As such, a grid of ‘safe’ vs. ‘cautious’ counties can easily be developed. We should continue to reopen in regions of the state where the trend lines indicate the ability to do so.”