When actor Elan Zafir and his wife Lindsay first moved into their two-bedroom apartment on East 17th Street, the rest of New York City seemed to be heading for the exits.

It was mid-pandemic, the housing market had shifted dramatically, and while others fled, the Zafirs doubled down on city life.

“I think most people were getting out because of COVID and we were coming into it,” Zafir told The Post, who currently appears as Rocco alongside Jon Hamm in the Apple TV+ series “Your Friends & Neighbors.”

Now, four years later, their Gramercy Park sanctuary — Residence 3D at 210 E. 17th St. — is hitting the market for $800,000.

“We’re really sad to be leaving that area, it’s so great,” he said.

Listed with Michelle Griffith of Douglas Elliman, the apartment is part of the Beaux-Arts cooperative known as “Mon Bijou,” a building whose name, translating to “my jewel,” reflects the lived-in charm Zafir said they’ll miss most.

“It’s like an oasis when you get in there. It’s shockingly quiet,” he said. “You can’t hear like anything and there’s this enormous church that you’re kind of facing the back of that has all this moss on it.”

The 1,000-square-foot home is sun-drenched, with seven oversized windows and southern and eastern exposures, including view of the historic St. George’s Church.

French doors lead to a corner primary bedroom with dual closets, and the updated kitchen includes full-size appliances and an in-unit washer/dryer.

But Zafir said the true appeal is the sense of community.

“I know everyone in the building,” he said. “My kid can go run downstairs to let her friend in for a playdate. I never worried about anything because it’s mostly owners in the building.”

Zafir has lived all over New York since arriving in July 2000 — Canal Street during 9/11, the East Village, Crown Heights. But it was this pocket of Gramercy that finally felt like home.

“You’re two blocks from the East Village, another two blocks from Eataly in Madison Square Park. You’re like half a block from Stuyvesant Square Park — which is just beautiful — and they’ve got like tango some nights, and concerts and they show movies there.”

A classically trained stage actor who has performed with institutions like TFANA, La MaMa, and Classic Stage Company, Zafir said the apartment’s proximity to the city’s cultural core made it easy to juggle auditions and rehearsals across boroughs.

“I could walk to Chinatown and just get whatever dumpling I wanted. It was just so easy anywhere I had to go,” he said. “I’m always like working in a different theater … I worked at the Classic Stage and it was super easy to get to work.”

He and Lindsay, who previously worked remotely for The Forge and is now a professor at CUNY, are relocating to Morningside Heights for more space and to be closer to work and schools.

“My son is coming to move in with me … so we need a proper three-bedroom,” Zafir added. “We got Sarah [his daughter] into a good school. We’re happy about that… but it’s just nothing like where we were.”

The move marks a new chapter, but not an easy departure.

“The apartment is super cute. When it was just me, my wife, my dog and my 7-year-old, we all just liked to sleep in the bed and be all bundled up. I’ve got really fond memories of that,” Zafir said.

“Life became a lot easier actually, and so yeah — we’re not looking forward to leave, to be honest.”