Demand for Suburban Property Grows as Home Buyers Look Outside City Centers
The high cost of urban living coupled with the urban areas remaining hotspots for the pandemic have pushed buyers outside city centers
More people are searching for homes outside of urban areas such as Houston as a result of stay-at-home orders from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Deal Sikes.
“Corporate workplace trends, such as working-from-home, have energized the suburban housing markets,” said Mark Sikes, principal with Deal Sikes. “Even employees who will work-from-home only one or two days a week in the future, are more open to suburban and exurban living.”
Deal Sikes is a valuation firm based in Houston, Texas, and provides valuation, counseling services for real estate firms, government agencies, law firms and investors in the area.
Sikes said that developers and homebuilders were looking to purchase lots and land in counties outside of Houston.
“As this trend plays out, attitudes about long commutes will change and homebuyers will respond by moving farther out,” Sikes said, also adding that the retail market growth will follow the suburban housing market growth.
The increased trend for housing in suburban areas gets a boost from the age of the Millennial population. No longer the kids going on Spring Break vacations, those born between 1981 and 1996 are looking for neighborhoods with good schools to raise young children and establish roots.
Homeownership and low mortgage rates make it an attractive time for prospective home buyers, and the high cost of urban living coupled with the urban areas remaining hotspots for the pandemic have pushed buyers outside city centers. Corporations have also enabled employees to work from home full time, which cuts out the long commute to an office at the moment. Companies have also began electing to move to suburban corporate locations.
“Rising taxes and the challenges of urban living and mass transit are prompting individuals to depart for the suburbs,” said Matthew Deal, principal with Deal Sikes. “The affordability of suburban life appeals to a growing number of individuals and this will impact commercial real estate markets across the country.”