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Close-in neighborhoods are not seeing a drop in values. The farthest are emptying out. I thought it would take gas at $6.
The American people are nothing if not adaptable.
Good, maybe it will become economical to hold land for farming and hunting on again as opposed to building subdivisions. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to have to eat houses one day.
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I can only offer my own testimony…I underestimated the cost of my commute. However, it’s important not to try to extrapolate too much from solely the selling prices of housing in one ot two sample markets.
If I were buying my house today with gas being as high as it is it would be much more cost effective to buy something closer, but the reality is that I’m not…my house was bought years ago in a cheaper market. It would make no sense for me to move. Much of suburbia is the same.
And, if I were raising my kids there is no way I’d buy in the city.
People aren’t moving, as some would like to see, but perhaps those who are buying aren’t willing to commute as far.
Those who are in their 20s and their 30s are likely moving to the cities–once they move out of Mom & Dad’s basement–but that is nothing new. Young people like the “excitement” of cities and they frequently don’t have children to educate in the city or a car to park in the city (i.e.–fewer worries about urban life). This “move back to the city” likely involves only (or primarily) younger people, not middle-aged and older folks.
For those of us who live in the suburbs and rural areas (and for whom currently reduced home values are still 150% or higher than the original purchase price), it would not make very much sense to move, IMHO.
Why would I sell my current home for a significant profit, but then have to pay at least as much as I received for the sale of my home–if not more–for significantly less space in a city, and to have to deal with the higher levels of pollution, noise, congestion, crime, etc? I can’t speak for others, but I am staying where I am.
Economically, that would make no sense for me. I have a 50 mile round trip commute. That translates to about an extra $1000 per year if gas goes up $2 more a gallon. The costs associated with moving along with the increased expenditure for the more expensive house far outweighs the little extra the gas is costing me.
I’m not moving either, but I did give up commuting about a decade ago. The other long-term trend will be more people working from home, that’s the best of both worlds. I do travel about 30% of the time, but those expenses are payed by someone else. Even some federal government employees that I work with are allowed to work from home some percentage of the time.
Gas would have to go up to well past $20/gal for it make economic sense for me to move. I live in NH and commute to MA. If I lived near work…I’d easily spend $800k to buy a house like the one I live in in NH. That plus the increased taxes…and increased crime…Nope…I’ll pay the $20/gal and commute.