"The short answer is that we used to move from the north to the south, and for the time being we've stopped moving. I've called this phenomenon, The Great Stay. In the post-pandemic economy, we're staying in town, in state, in our jobs, in our homes. Companies are not firing and they're not hiring. Workers are not quitting. Growing families are not upsizing. Workers are not migrating across the country in search of better opportunities."
"For many years, Americans have been moving from the North to the South, from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt. That migration pattern exploded during the pandemic. Remote work, cheap, new housing and other economic opportunities drew millions of people to states like Texas, Florida, Arizona and Colorado. For anyone who had been thinking about making the move, suddenly during the pandemic it was an optimal time to do so."
"Then suddenly the move got expensive. The price of homes in the south shot up. In cities like Tampa, it was quite common to see 45% home price appreciation in just a few years. Mortgages got expensive too. When mortgage rates jumped from 2.8% to 7%, payments rose even further. But it's not just the cost of the house. Insurance rates in much of the country spiked with increased natural disasters and rising replacement costs."
The Great Stay describes a halt in domestic migration and economic churn after pandemic-driven relocation from the North and Midwest to the Sun Belt. Remote work and affordable housing initially pulled millions to states such as Texas, Florida, Arizona and Colorado. Rapid home-price appreciation, spiking mortgage rates, higher insurance and tax bills, and rising replacement costs erased the affordability edge of southern moves. As a result, fewer people are buying, selling, quitting jobs, or relocating. Northern and Midwestern housing inventories tightened while Sun Belt markets saw elevated supply. The housing slowdown is linked to an unusually stagnant labor market.
Read at www.housingwire.com
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