It's also because remote working has allowed many younger workers to leave their location and move to NYC without losing their job. The higher-paid ones are filling all those empty non-rent-controlled apartments and starting to revive the restaurants and other nightlife.
This is a good sign for us NYers. Eventually there will be a renaissance if these people stay.
The younger ones left. Many of them returned to their parents' home in the suburbs, many just bailed completely.
Many of the younger ones were living with roommates who lost jobs and they couldn't find other young adults to move in.
People found themselves locked down alone in an apartment and realized that acquaintances and coworkers are not friends. Many headed out from New York City to Florida because it wasn't locked down.
Young couples saw what the lockdowns and school closures were doing to their kids and left New York City so their kids could grow up normal instead of surrounded by neurotic Branch Covidians.