Anxiety and Commitment

We live in an anxious time. The events of the past 12 months, both here in the United States and across the world, have left citizens viewing an uncertain future regardless of their location on the political spectrum. We have a stock market at its highest point ever, and yet New Yorkers don’t feel reassured about the economy. Everywhere I go, people seem to be waiting for the other shoe to drop.

How does this impact the sale of real estate in New York City? My experience over the years points to cocooning as a reaction to apprehension; we tend to gather together and hunker down when the world appears threatening or baffling around us. I remember so clearly that after 9/11, no deals were made during the last three months of the year, and then in early 2002 the market sprang into high gear. Some people left town, but far more recommitted to our city and their lives here. They bought homes and really used them. Restaurant use diminished, and people cooked comfort food at home. I still have the wonderful recipe for maple bars (including decadent amounts of both maple syrup and butter) published in the Times that fall with an introduction reminding us of the power of cooking in tough times.

Home ownership, as I have often written before, displays optimism about the future. We make a commitment for five years, or ten, or more, to center our lives around a particular place. It’s both an economic and a profoundly emotional decision, with far reaching implications in both arenas. And as we make it, we have to believe that both as a residence and as an investment the choice will yield dividends for us. Ironically so often these moments of transition spur us to make commitments, to fly in the face of our fear and engage with what’s ahead. That’s precisely what 2017 looks like to me so far.

After months of uncertainty that almost brought real estate buying to a halt, the election catalyzed our populace. Whether winners or losers, New Yorkers no longer wanted to live on hold. Regardless of their fears: of runaway immigration, of terrorism, of a rollback in women’s rights, of the President himself, buyers have re-entered the marketplace and re-energized most of its sectors. Just this week-end, one of our Open Houses for a small two-bedroom condominium on the Upper West Side was so flooded with buyers that even that most jaded of all New Yorkers, the doorman, was nonplussed! In 2016 we had lost the habit of expecting such responses.

The rising stock market certainly contributes to the sort of confidence which inspires buyers to act. And the increasing flexibility of sellers, especially those whose properties have been long on the market, also contributes to the activity the market is currently experiencing. But to me, the deepest driver of today’s busier market emerges from elsewhere: the embrace of the future in anxious times. I believe, the purchaser implicitly states with his offer. I believe in this home, in this place, in my future. I believe.