One of the most striking effects of the pandemic in New York was the outbound movement from Manhattan to less crowded suburban neighborhoods and the subsequent boom of the suburban real estate market. Real estate in the city and suburbs seemed to be a zero sum game.

“This outbound pattern created the idea that the suburbs had their day at the cities’ expense, and that cities were over,” said Jonathan Miller, of Miller Samuel, the appraisal company. “As it turns out, the assumption that there’s a binary relationship between city and suburbs isn’t quite right, as measured by sales activity.”