Legal Blog

This Week in Real Estate: Are People Moving Out of the Cities?

No one knows yet the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on people’s desires to move out of the cities. Prior to the pandemic, we saw a trend in people moving into the cities. During the pandemic, it appeared, especially in areas with high numbers of COVID cases, like New York City, that people would be moving away from the crowded cities into the suburbs. However, that early trend may have been overstated. It is correct that suburban homes are selling fast, but so are urban homes, and the numbers are not that much different than a year ago.

According to a new study from Zillow:

  • Suburban housing markets have not strengthened at a disproportionately rapid pace compared to urban markets.
  • In all but a few cases, suburban markets and urban markets have seen similar changes in activity in recent months: about the same share of homes selling above their list price, similar changes in the typical time homes spend on the market before an offer is accepted, and recent improvements in newly pending sales have been about the same across each region type.
  • Changes in annual home value growth rates from just before the pandemic to now have been about the same for urban and suburban markets.
  • For-sale suburban homes attract more than three times as much of Zillow’s traffic as urban listings do, but that was the case last year as well.

Rents in urban ZIP codes fell more relative to their pre-pandemic trend than in suburban areas.

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ABOUT JAMES LANDON

Jim Landon has practiced real estate law since 2002 and has been involved in real estate investment and construction for most of his life. Jim’s practice focuses on real estate transactions and land use.

Jim represents individuals and privately and publicly held companies in the purchase, sale, leasing, financing, and development of real property. He also represents title insurance companies on commercial purchases and refinancing transactions, as well as providing third-party legal opinions regarding Delaware law related to Delaware entities.

 

 

 

 

 

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