Inman

The Real Word: Is New York City making a comeback?

Byron Lazine and Nicole White are two agents in Connecticut who give us their thoughts on the week’s news every Friday in “The Real Word,” a weekly video column on Inman.

After a year of COVID-19 turning people’s work lives upside down, demand for office space is creeping back to pre-pandemic levels. In fact, in some cities like New York, it’s booming, according to a recently published article by GlobeSt.

The article relied on findings by the national VTS Office Demand Index (VODI), which counts in-person and virtual tours that tenants have been taking of office spaces.

“I don’t think it’s any surprise,” Nicole said. “People need to be around people. They want to be around people.” Will people go back to the way things were? Or will they adapt to a new normal and prosper by working from their home offices? Byron and Nicole weighed in on this important question.

More this week: Though the pandemic spurred a migration from cities to less costly, greener pastures, experts predict the New York City exodus will end in April. “You can’t keep the biggest city down forever,” Byron said. “People will always go back to New York City.”

Marketeer of the week

The Real Word’s marketeer this week goes to The Smith Group. The company’s newest listing video highlights a California estate with humor.

Want to nominate a “marketeer of the week”? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below, or shoot us an email.