HOUSTON — (By Dale King, Realty News Report) — Since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people who moved into new homes or apartments did so for a variety of reasons. A recent survey from Seattle-based real estate company Redfin highlights the most common motives driving that relocation trend.
Redfin’s August 2021 survey polled 1,023 U.S. residents who had moved during the 18 months prior to the survey. The report identified six leading factors that influenced people’s decisions to change residences, with crime and cost among the top concerns.
Among homeowners, concerns about crime and safety ranked highest: half of homeowners who moved said crime and safety were a major reason. Renters were more likely to cite cost of living as a significant factor, with 40 percent saying it played an important role in their decision.
“There are plenty of positive reasons to make a move, but sometimes people move to flee a place where they felt unsafe,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. She pointed out that worries about crime helped drive migration out of cities and into suburbs and rural areas. With remote work now widespread, cities that once attracted people for high-paying jobs may need to focus on improving safety and other quality-of-life issues to retain and attract residents. That’s a difficult challenge if wealthier residents leave and take tax revenue with them, reducing funds available to address safety and services for those who remain.
The six top reasons for relocating were relatively close in importance overall, Redfin noted. For homeowners, personal safety and crime control were cited as “a lot” or “the most important factor” in their move. Among renters, 35 percent ranked safety as a leading reason.
Financial concerns were important for both groups. While 40 percent of renters named cost of living as a key influence, 43 percent of homeowners also listed financial considerations among their top reasons to move.
School quality weighed heavily for property owners: 43 percent of homeowners rated school quality as equally important to cost of living. Renters, however, were far less likely to cite schools as a major factor—only 22 percent included school quality among their top motivations.
Taxes mattered more to homeowners than to renters, but neither group ranked taxes as a dominant issue. About 34 percent of homeowners said taxes were a concern in their decision, while only 13 percent of renters listed taxes as important.
Climate change registered as a lower priority for movers: 26 percent of homeowners and 10 percent of renters said climate change influenced their choice of where to live.
Racial diversity was placed toward the bottom of respondents’ lists. Only 24 percent of homeowners and 12 percent of renters ranked diversity highly among factors guiding their relocation.
The report also compared people who moved within their current metro area to those who relocated to a different metro. Those who moved to a new metro were more likely to cite taxes and climate change as important factors than people who stayed within the same metropolitan area. Roughly 32 percent of metro-to-metro movers said taxes were a major factor, compared with about 24 percent of those who moved within the same metro. Climate change was a major factor for 24 percent of metro movers and 19 percent of within-metro movers.
Redfin suggested that increased remote work could further enable moves motivated by taxes and climate change, since more people can now relocate without sacrificing their jobs.
Nov. 3, 2021 Realty News Report Copyright 2021
Photo credit: Ralph Bivins, Realty News Report Copyright 2021
File: Top Reasons for Relocating: Crime and Cost. Redfin.
Check out the book Houston 2020: America’s Boom Town – An Extreme Close Up by Ralph Bivins. Available on Amazon
Houston 2020 Ebook version