In a Sign of Normalization, Homebuyers Aren’t Moving as Far Away
Those looking to leave their metro areas fall for a second straight month, Redfin said.
Homebuyers have reduced the distance they’d like to travel when relocating for the second straight month, according to new data from Redfin.com, based on site users.
It’s perhaps a sign that life continues to return to normal following pandemic lockdowns.
Nationwide, 30.2% of Redfin.com users looked to move to a different metropolitan area in the third quarter of 2021. This is down from 31.1% in the second quarter, which followed four consecutive quarters of increases.
Redfin Deputy chief economist Taylor Marr said in prepared remarks that he expects Americans to continue relocating at a higher rate than they did before the coronavirus pandemic.
“As employers fight to retain talent during the ongoing labor shortage, they’ll face mounting pressure to introduce permanent flexible-work policies that will give more workers the option to move where they want.”
Relocation Interest Up, YoY
Although the percentage of users moving to a new metro area in the third quarter declined, interest in relocation during the third quarter remained higher than it was a year earlier (29.2%) and before the pandemic (26%).
The latest migration analysis is based on a sample of about 3.3 million Redfin.com users who searched for homes across 125 metro areas in the third quarter, excluding searches unlikely to precede an actual relocation or home purchase. To be included in this dataset, a Redfin.com user must have viewed at least 10 homes in a particular metro area, and homes in that area must have made up at least 80% of the user’s searches.
The slowdown in relocations has coincided with a cooling of the overall housing market: Homebuyer bidding wars, home-price growth and home-sales growth have all been falling. It’s worth noting that the housing market typically slows at this time of year.
While the migration rate has slipped slightly in recent months, it’s unlikely to fall back to pre-pandemic levels any time in the foreseeable future, according to Redfin Deputy chief economist Taylor Marr.
“We expect Americans to continue relocating at a higher rate than they did before the coronavirus pandemic,” Marr said. “As employers fight to retain talent during the ongoing labor shortage, they’ll face mounting pressure to introduce permanent flexible-work policies that will give more workers the option to move where they want.