The trend of preferring affordable living in suburban areas over big-city amenities is growing. This shift has been primarily driven by remote work since the pandemic and increasing home ownership costs. Realtor's Q2 2025 report indicates that nearly 60% of homebuyers are exploring options outside their current markets, up from 48.1% in Q2 2019. Western states lead this trend, particularly residents of San Jose, California, where over 90% are searching for homes beyond their immediate area due to affordability issues.
A surge in pandemic-driven remote work is mostly behind the shift in the last half decade, but rapidly rising average home ownership costs are equally to blame.
Residents in Western states are most guilty of peeking across city limits - 65% of the time - as has been the case for the trailing six years.
Realtor.com's Q2 report pinpointed San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California, where more than 9 in 10 residents are looking for homes elsewhere.
Prospective homebuyers still think the grass looks greener outside of big city limits, with shoppers browsing outside of their current market nearly 60% of the time.
Collection
[
|
...
]