Americans expanded their home search, moving farther and farther away from their original homes.
The average distance buyers traveled to their new home was 50 miles in 2022, according to Data published by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). That’s more than three times the average distance traveled in the past 30 years, which ranged from 10 to 15 miles.
“People have moved on to favorable weather, taxes, more space, affordability, (and) a good job market,” said Jessica Lutz, NAR’s deputy chief economist. During the real estate summit. “We’ve actually seen people move a much longer distance than we’ve seen historically.”
And for the younger baby boomers who are taking the lead in these long-distance moves, the reason is even more personal.
Grandparents, said Lautz. “They’re chasing this grandpa several states away, just to be on the street.”
“Expand their housing funds more”
Movers search for homes in different parts of the country as they search for new cities to call home.
in Separate report on Realtor.com, 60.3% of home shoppers searched for listings outside of their central areas in the second quarter of this year. This is up 0.7% sequentially and up 4.1% year over year.
“Housing affordability is unlikely to improve anytime soon,” Jiayi Xu, Realtor.com economist, said in a press release. “So it’s not surprising to see that Americans are increasingly moving and looking for homes in more affordable areas of the country where they can increase their housing finances.”
In fact, a NAR report found that a quarter of buyers have traveled more than 470 miles to find their new home.
Where people lived was also an indication of where they wanted to go next.
For example, Chicago was the top out-of-state home-search destination for San Francisco residents, due to its relatively affordable homes and similar tech-industry infrastructure, according to Realtor.com. Dallas was the most popular out-of-state search for Chicagoans due to similar job opportunities in technology and warmer weather. And New York City’s subway pair was Miami, for affordability.
“Remote work does not tie the worker to a specific location,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yoon told Yahoo Finance via email. “Thus, the increasing trend of remote work flexibility will allow movement over longer distances.”
childbearers’can move too far
One generation travels longer distances than another. Young Boomers, those born between 1955 and 1964, had the longest median distance movement between generations — at 90 miles — in 2022. For comparison, moving average It was 60 miles for senior boomers, 30 miles for generation X, 15 miles for millennials, and 20 miles for generation Z.
Yoon told Yahoo Finance, “There are a lot of baby boomers and they’re retiring. They can move far, far away.”
Baby boomers were also the largest homebuying group on the market, making up 39% of all transactions between July 2021 and June 2022, according to NAR data. Millennial buyers made up 28%, followed by Gen X at 24%, with Gen Z and the Silent Generation at nearly 4%.
Reasons why baby boomers are active in relocation include adding spaces, buying a forever home, and having a home with smart features, according to NAR.
“They are buying a house that they want to live in for a long time. They also have the money,” Lutz said.
As for the grandchildren? “This is definitely a factor,” she added.
Rebecca Chen is a correspondent at Yahoo Finance and previously worked as a Certified Public Accountant in Investment Tax (CPA).
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