The escape from New York has turned into an influx.
Young people are flocking to the Big Apple after many fled during the pandemic to return to childhood homes or live elsewhere.
“The past six weeks, I don’t think anyone could have predicted how busy it’s been,” said Madison Raye Sutton, a real estate agent with a large TikTok following.
Sutton said most of her inquiries come from those aged 24 to 32, many of whom are coming for jobs or who are working remotely and want to give city living a try.
“Murray Hill and Midtown East — the demand is off the charts,” she said.
Maverick LaRue, 21, from Winston-Salem, N.C., is one of those who decided to take a chance on the Big Apple. Sutton helped secure him an East Village rental two months ago.
“I figured with the rent prices being down with COVID, and everything kind of opening back up, it would be a perfect time to kind of sneak in here,” said LaRue, who is a clothing reseller and model. “I really like New York. It’s very different than anywhere I’ve ever lived.”
The Post last year found that city residents filed 295,103 change of address requests from March 1 through Oct. 31 as people moved away or took up residence in second homes amid the pandemic.
Murray Hill and the East Village, both popular with young people, were among the neighborhoods that saw the greatest number of residents moving out.
But according to data from the TaskRabbit website, which connects people who need errands or odd jobs done with workers, those are now hot neighborhoods to move into. There has been a 192 percent jump in move-in tasks this year in the East Village and 122 percent increase in Murray Hill, the site says.
Overall, TaskRabbit said it had seen 25 percent more move-in jobs than move-outs in New York City this year.
“I’ve pretty much worked everyday since March,” said William Young, a TaskRabbit “tasker” who is typically hired to help people install televisions or air conditioning units in new apartments. He charges $140 an hour and is fully booked.
Young, who graduated from New York University last year without a job, decided to join TaskRabbit in July 2020 after he hired the service to help him move. A year ago, he said, he was mostly assisting those who were leaving to put things in storage or move within their buildings to take advantage of better rental deals.
Now, it’s a different story.
“Everyone’s coming back in,” he said.
On Friday, he was installing a television for Skyler Stephenson, 26, a marketing analyst from Atlanta who moved to Murray Hill last year and just relocated to the Upper East Side. The ability to work remotely prompted her to take the plunge.
“I feel like your mid-20s is a good time to do a move like this,” she said.
Geneve Lau, 22, just moved to Hell’s Kitchen after graduating from Boston University and landing a public relations job in New York. She scored a studio apartment with Sutton’s help for $1,500 a month.
Lau, who grew up in Idaho, said she was a little nervous about crime and carries pepper spray and a personal alarm, but was undeterred in her desire to relocate.
“I always knew that New York was where I wanted to be,” she said.