{"id":46484,"date":"2016-03-23T05:00:43","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T12:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redfindevelop.wpengine.com\/blog\/?p=46484"},"modified":"2020-10-03T11:32:39","modified_gmt":"2020-10-03T18:32:39","slug":"homebuyers-are-bucking-the-urban-revival-as-burbs-beckon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redfin.com\/news\/homebuyers-are-bucking-the-urban-revival-as-burbs-beckon\/","title":{"rendered":"Homebuyers Are Bucking the Urban Revival As \u2018Burbs Beckon"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n
<\/figure>\n

Some say there is a great migration back into American cities, the reversal of American suburbanism. If that\u2019s true, homebuyers are bucking the trend.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, the typical home sold was about 4 percent farther from a city center than in 2011. That\u2019s an increase of less than a mile on average, but in some metros, including Ventura County, Calif., Austin and San Francisco, the change was significant. Ventura County experienced the biggest increase in miles at 2.2 miles, followed by Riverside-San Bernardino and Austin with increases of 1.7 miles and 1.6 miles respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Change<\/p>\n

Buyers are sending mixed signals about what they want. A recent <\/span>survey<\/span><\/a> by the National Association of Home Builders found that few buyers (less than one\u00a0in 12) prefer a central city location. Yet <\/span>educated millennials<\/span><\/a> have been moving into city centers at a faster pace than their non-educated peers since 2000. Additionally, a growing proportion of empty-nester baby boomers are looking to <\/span>settle into retirement<\/span><\/a> in the city.<\/span><\/p>\n

The result is a growing gap between city haves and have-nots. Increasingly, downtowns are becoming home to a <\/span>whiter and more-educated<\/span><\/a> population, with boomers and millennials showing the greatest participation in this change.<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, for those who can afford it the benefits of urban living are <\/span>many<\/span><\/a>\u2013shorter commutes, <\/span>improved health<\/span><\/a>, as well as having <\/span>wider and deeper social networks<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Higher Prices Drive Many Farther Away<\/span><\/h3>\n

Across 30 metros we examined, prices grew almost 50 percent faster in the urban core than in the metro area as a whole\u2013up 69 percent at the peak last year compared with 47 percent since 2011. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Urban<\/figure>\n

Buyers aren\u2019t following jobs to the suburbs, which have tended to grow <\/span>faster in city centers<\/span><\/a> than surrounding suburbs. Also, the trend was apparent before oil prices tumbled and hasn\u2019t changed much since.<\/span><\/p>\n

A better explanation for why people are moving farther out is the scarcity of homes for sale and rising costs, especially in urban cores. Zoning is also\u00a0<\/span>partly to blame<\/span><\/a>. Residents of Boston, for example, pay more than three times as much per square foot in order to live in the city center than they do in the metro area as a whole. In only a handful of markets was it actually cheaper per square foot to purchase a home downtown than farther out.<\/span><\/p>\n