Brokers say that barely cope with the flow of customers rushed to buy real estate in long island city (Queens). After Amazon decided to post here the second its headquarters in this district may receive up to 25 thousand new residents.
Until last week on the real estate market in long island city has been stagnant. Now some brokers say that a sudden spike reminded them of the heady days of the condo boom in new York shortly before the collapse during the financial crisis of 2008.
«For the first time in 20 years I saw in one night under the influence of rumors buyer’s market turned into a seller’s market. It’s like a gift from the gods for condominiums long island», — told reporters the agent Stribling Patrick W. Smith. Being a resident of long island, Smith on weekend warned buyers that Amazon plans not yet become fact and are subject to change. Now, when the cards are open, you can expect a new wave of buyers is long and powerful.
The interest of Amazon to long island, the experts were known a week ago. The number of search queries about real estate in this area StreetEasy.com increased by 295%. The biggest surge was in the first few days after the news about Amazon, when the number of requests jumped more than 400%.
Sales Manager at Halstead Property Development Marketing Teresa Ali says in the sales office of the Galerie — a real pandemonium. This is a new building of brick and glass on the Boulevard Jackson won’t open until spring, but, according to Teresa Ali, on Saturday and Sunday dropped in on them a hundred buyers. During the week she already organized a viewing of 34.
«It was chaos, — says the broker — during the weekend we conducted group tours in English and Chinese languages.»
Buyers of real estate are betting that the arrival of the Amazon will revitalize the old industrial space, and in the future the price here blows up.
«Buyers are hoping that there will be a new Silicon valley, and want to have a share in this, says Kyle Lee — broker of Modern Spaces, who oversees sales of the 8-storey building with an angular glass façade that began in August. —Last week was the best in history, with proposals for 6 of the 84 units and several negotiations. Last weekend was the 20 meetings».
«Customers with whom I spoke seven or eight, began to contact me, — says the President and founder of the Agency Modern Spaces Eric Benaim. — I sold 20 apartments. Our office was Packed and continued to fill with customers. Buyers had to sit in the conference room».
We asked the real estate expert Dmytro Stasiuk, what is really happening in the property market, after Amazon confirmed its plans for new York.
Dmitry Stasyuk
Real Estate Broker Associate at Evans Real Estate
The company’s plans Amazon to open its head office in new York, near Long Island City, stirred up the local property market. Someone says that the entire property dramatically bought, and someone on the contrary says that Amazon will complete your office in five years, and then there will be some changes. In fact, neither the truth does not seem. The arrival of the IT giants will certainly lead to a rise in property prices, but still heavy demand is not observed. I’m in the market see the same investment options that was a month ago before the news about the arrival of this district Amazon. On the other hand, the company probably rents office space in the existing buildings, so a market recovery can be expected pretty soon.
