How Commercial To Residential Conversion Will Affect Home Prices

Q: Many people during the pandemic are working from home. What’s going to happen to all the empty office buildings? Sarah, Glen Ridge, NJ

A: As more and more office spaces are empty during the pandemic, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has thrown his support behind a proposal to let commercial landlords convert office and hotel buildings in New York City to residential use. More and more businesses are re-evaluating their office space needs given that remote work has proven to be not only safer for employees but also more productive and less expensive for businesses. Converting unused commercial space for residential use is a very smart public policy development that will help alleviate the residential housing shortage that has resulted in skyrocketing home prices that actually accelerated in 2020 during the pandemic. Archaic local zoning ordinances in general need to be modified to allow for conversion of unused office space to residential use and to encourage more residential housing to be built in general to make housing more affordable nationwide. Thanks for your question, Sarah.

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