Driven by a desire for more space, affordable homes and a new-found freedom to work remotely, a deurbanization trend has emerged among homebuyers, according to data from realtor.com. While housing markets in both suburban and urban areas recovered rapidly post-COVID-19 shutdown, suburban markets have experienced more interest from home shoppers, stronger improvement of price growth and quicker home sales than urban areas this summer. Historically, home prices have grown faster in urban areas than the suburbs, however, suburban prices have accelerated 3.2% since the first week of March, compared to an acceleration of only 2.3% for urban areas.
“In one of the most seismic shifts to the U.S. workforce since the introduction of the Internet, many U.S. workers now have the flexibility to work remotely and choose where they want to live,” said realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale. “Data shows in our post-COVID world there’s a strong preference towards a suburban lifestyle with its bigger houses, backyards, and quiet streets. But American cities are not becoming ghost towns anytime soon. In fact, they are also seeing an uptick of homebuyers; it’s just not as strong as the surge we’re seeing in the suburbs.”
Within the nation’s top 10 largest metros, prices started to rise faster in the suburbs than in urban areas since March; the median listing price of suburban properties within these metros is now up 5.2% over last year, whereas in urban areas it’s up by only 2.4%.
“Based on the rising popularity of the burbs, some buyers might think they can catch a break by searching in the city, but unfortunately that’s not the case. Rising home prices and fast home sales are everywhere,” noted Hale. “If you’re a buyer in today’s market, finding and closing on your dream home is not going to be easy.”
