Moving is always a struggle, but with the current state of the market, it may be more of a challenge than it has been in the past. With that in mind, who in the market is taking the steps to move, and where are they relocating to?
A new report by LendingTree’s analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data to determine the largest and smallest share of homeowners and renters—individually and combined—in the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas who moved into their current home in 2019 or later.
The report found that the share of recent movers can vary significantly by place, and that renters are more than three times as likely to have recently moved than homeowners.
Key highlights:
- The Austin, Dallas and Las Vegas metros have the largest share of recent movers. In these metros, an average of 36.18% of homeowners and renters reported moving into their current homes in 2019 or later.
- Conversely, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and New York City have the smallest share of homeowners and renters who recently moved. In these metros, an average of 21.75% moved into their current homes in 2019 or later.
- Across the 50 largest metros, an average of 28.97% of homeowners and renters moved into their current place in 2019 or later.
- Renters are more than three times as likely to have recently moved than homeowners. On average, 50.96% of renters across the nation’s 50 largest metros moved into their current homes in 2019 or later, versus an average of 16.76% of homeowners.
- Looking solely at homeowners, the Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tampa metros have the largest share that moved in 2019 or later. An average of 22.14% of homeowners in these metros moved into their current houses in 2019 or later. That’s nearly double the 12.22% average among the three metros with the smallest share of recent homeowners who moved—San Jose, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.
- The largest share of renters in the 50 largest metros who recently moved live in Austin, Salt Lake City and Denver. In these three metros, an average of 62.39% of renters moved into their current homes in 2019 or later—11.43 percentage points higher than the 50-metro average.
- The metros with the smallest share of renters who recently moved are New York, Los Angeles and Riverside. An average of only 35.75% of renters in these metros moved into their current homes in 2019 or later.
- Metros where a larger share of homeowners have recently moved tend to experience more significant home price appreciation. More movement among homebuyers can reduce the supply of homes for sale in a given area and cause prices to increase.
- But, while there is a strong correlation between the share of homeowners who recently moved and home price appreciation, there’s a much weaker correlation between the share of renters who recently moved and rent appreciation.
Major takeaway:
The study demonstrated that overall, renters tend to move more than homeowners. Jacob Channel, LendingTree’s senior economist and author of the report, explained that there are a few reasons why this is the case.
“One short-term reason is that owning a house is typically much more expensive than renting one. This can give renters more freedom to leave their homes, as they don’t need to spend as much time saving for homebuying costs like a down payment or mortgage fees. Similarly, renters don’t have to deal with the often costly and potentially time-consuming hassle of selling a home—instead, they can more easily pack up and move once their lease expires,” said Channel. “At the same time, while short-term costs may disincentivize homeowners from moving, long-term savings can compel them to keep their current digs. After all, homeowners who live in one place long enough to pay off their mortgages (or who otherwise end up without one) typically spend less on housing costs than renters.
Channel continued, “Outside of financial considerations, renters can also be pushed into moving by a landlord who wants to change the lease terms or otherwise decides they want a new tenant. While some regulations protect renters and make it harder for landlords to force them out of their homes, these protections aren’t always robust. Because of this, renters can more frequently find themselves in situations where they’re forced to move, even if they like their current home or are strapped for cash. Similar risks also exist for homeowners—especially those who fall behind on their mortgage payments—but foreclosures are less common than evictions.”
“This isn’t to say that moving is necessarily cheap and easy for renters, or that homeowners never have financially sound reasons to leave their current houses. On the contrary, moving can be expensive regardless of one’s homeowner status, just as it can be rewarding for someone to sell their current house and head someplace new,” concluded Channel. “Similarly, renters and owners may find themselves forced out of their current homes, even if they’d prefer to keep them. Nonetheless, the data is clear that renters are more likely to move than their home-owning peers.”
For the full report, click here.
