COVID-19 has affected every aspect of our lives, including how we invest money. Reports show that rural properties' selling prices are rising significantly as buyers move away from crowded cities.
Data shows that people are finding living outside the metro areas more appealing, thus, rural property showings are increasing. Numbers suggest that rural and suburban zip codes had a huge increment in property viewings when compared to June 2019. This June, urban zip codes had a 19% increase in views, suburban zip codes had a much better increment of 30%, and rural zip codes had the greatest increase with a 34% in views. Although these numbers do not suggest rural property sales increments, they show people have interest in leaving urban areas.
This is no surprise. Before modern technology, cities were notoriously dirty. They're still crowded and dirty as ever, we just have better means of cleaning it. With a pandemic, it makes things significantly more difficult. It seems like buyers are willing to suffer the long commutes to live cleaner, and to maybe not have to step over literal piles of trash on their way to work in Manhattan. Get it, literal? Litter-al? Moving on:
Nobody knows when the real estate market will rebalance. What we do know is we won't go back to any kind of "normal" that we once knew. Buyers are accepting virtual showings, attending open houses with masks, and bringing hand sanitizer with them. It's hard to imagine our temporary hypochondria vanishing entirely anytime soon.
We also have to realize that, with the great job our administration is doing, coronavirus is here to stay for a long while. Maybe a move to the suburbs is best, but you can bet we're scooping up those discounted condos in the Back Bay as soon as possible.
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