The pandemic economy is influencing the prices of rental housing, and where people are choosing to live.
The cost of renting a place to live in major urban areas like San Francisco and Boston is dropping significantly while the cost of renting in suburban Norfolk or Richmond is on the rise. John Affleck at the data analytics firm CoStar Group says the cost on rent is demonstrating the law of supply and demand.
"A lot of folks, as their leases come due in downtown D.C. or San Francisco or Los Angeles, are saying why am I living here with the urban amenities largely closed? And they're seeing much cheaper rents and much more space in places like Richmond and Norfolk," he explains. "And, of course, Norfolk has the added benefit of having a nice beach."
Frank Shafroth at George Mason University says the pandemic economy has had a dramatic influence on the way people think about where they live.
"It changes the whole way we've known urban economies over the last 40 years, which is you buy a nice home and you take a long commute to work and then you come home at the end of the day," Shafroth says. "Now you can be at that nice home, and you don't have to commute at all."
Is this change a temporary trend that's limited to the pandemic? Or is this a structural change that will influence real-estate markets for years and decades to come? The answer to that question might be more apparent in 2021, after rules on social distancing are eased and people either return to urban areas like D.C. or stay in suburban Norfolk and Richmond.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
