Along with low interest rates and the infusion of money from federal stimulus, one of the factors that drove the pandemic boom market was a surge in so-called “housing mobility,” meaning the overall propensity of people to pick up and move.
That metric rose to its highest level in almost 20 years back in 2021, according to data analyzed by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS), as remote work and other Covid-related pressures hypercharged relocations.
But only three years later, housing mobility has plummeted, reaching an all-time low in 2024 based on lagging government data, and likely still falling, according to JCHS research.
“This most recent decline in household mobility is part of a decades-long trend,” wrote Riordan Frost, senior research analyst at JCHS. “The trends may shift quickly, as they did during the pandemic, but without fundamental changes in the housing market, lower household mobility will become entrenched.”
As the real estate industry—and the country—grapples with a slow-rolling housing crisis largely driven by unaffordable homes, the JCHS analysis mostly affirms what other researchers have already highlighted: namely, that a sharp increase in mortgage rates and stagnant wages are gumming up the housing market.
But the warning that mobility could be difficult to recapture is a new wrinkle, and a potential sign that real estate professionals should not necessarily expect a return to the patterns—or frequency—of households moving.
“This may mean that households are less likely to seek out better jobs, schools, or housing, limiting their ability to respond to opportunities or shocks,” he wrote. “This also limits the flexibility of labor markets, which could contribute to increasing regional economic divergence as opportunity concentrates in high-income communities.”
Young people are affected “most acutely” by the affordability issues that are tamping down on mobility, Frost wrote. Between 2021 and 2024, the rate of housing mobility for homeowners under the age of 45 fell from around 14% to just under 10%. Just between 2023 and 2024, there were 185,000 fewer movers in that age bracket, according to the analysis.
Data from the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) separately found that the age of first-time homebuyers rose to 40 in 2025, with NAR researchers also pointing to affordability as a primary barrier for younger and lower-income households. Young people remain increasingly pessimistic about their chances of owning a home.
With home sales still near recent lows, real estate professionals have long pointed to a lack of supply as holding back what appears to be continued strong demand for homes. But importantly, JCHS found the mobility rate for young renters held almost exactly steady from 2023 to 2024, even with new rental supply coming online. Rental costs, the report noted, held flat in 2025 for the first time since the pandemic, even as home prices continue to rise.
As industry advocates and policymakers have largely focused on bringing more homes to the market as a way of alleviating the affordability crisis, the new analysis suggests the picture is more complicated. Frost points to the “lock-in” effect, which real estate economists remain divided on—whether it will prove a significant and lasting barrier to increased home sales, or a speedbump easily erased by a dip in mortgage rates.
Frost claimed that the longer people are “locked in” to their rate and their home, the harder it will be to recapture the mobility—and the level of home sales—common in year’s past.
Analysts and housing economists have noted that it is not just more homes that are needed, but homes at affordable price points, if housing markets are to rebalance.
