Press release
Realtor.com® Deurbanization Report: The Grass is Greener in the Suburbs
Suburban homes are seeing stronger price acceleration, improved time on market, and are viewed more on realtor.com® than homes in urban areas SANTA CLARA,
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[{"type":"text","content":"Suburban homes are seeing stronger price acceleration, improved time on market, and are viewed more on realtor.com® than homes in urban areas\n\n\nSANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 new data released today by realtor.com®. While housing markets in both suburban and urban areas recovered rapidly post-COVID shut down, suburban markets have experienced more interest from home shoppers, stronger improvement of price growth, and quicker home sales than urban areas this summer. \n\"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®'s 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.\" \nHome price growth in the suburbs has improved more quickly during the pandemic\nHistorically, 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*. 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%. See chart below for metro specific data. Properties in both suburban and urban areas are flying off the market, but suburban homes are selling much more quickly than last year \nAt the peak of the pandemic in April, home buyers paused their search and the time a typical property spent on the market spiked in both suburban and urban areas. Following the real estate freeze, the time it took to sell a suburban home recovered faster than urban homes. In fact, suburban homes spent only 28.5% more time on the market in early May compared to last year, whereas urban homes...