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According to internet listing service Apartment List, many have theorized that the swift and immediate impact of COVID-19 on American life could lead to a wave of migration away from high-density urban areas. As many offices switch to remote work and urban amenities are locked down or more difficult to access, Americans are considered likely to place less value on urban amenities or proximity to employment in their future home decisions, and instead value affordability, larger spaces, and lower-density environments.

However, a study of search data from Apartment List users who had registered for the site between Jan. 1 and June 30 does not yet show a mass urban exodus. Instead, the share of users looking for housing in higher-density cities has risen by 4% from Q1 2020 to Q2 2020, or 35.4% of all site searches in the second quarter. At the same time, searches for housing in lower-density areas has fallen 3%, down to 40.0% in the second quarter of the year. Seventy-eight percent of renters were searching for housing in a different city from where they currently live, up from 76% the previous quarter. The share of users looking in a different metro rose 4%, and the share of users looking in a different state also rose 4%.

Out of all searches for housing in America’s 50 largest cities, the share coming from “secondary” cities rose from 31% in Q1 2020 to 35% in Q2 2020. At the same time, the share of searches coming from “principal” cities to secondary cities fell from 34% to 32% quarter-over-quarter.

At the metro level, a number of major cities reflect the national trend. In New York, one of the nation’s densest urban areas and the global epicenter of COVID-19 in late March and April, apartment search traffic within the city’s boroughs rose 12% from Q1 to Q2, while traffic from residents searching for housing in a different metro or state shifted -11% and -13%, respectively. The share of NYC users looking for housing in a lower density area also fell by 8%.

San Francisco has shown no change in searches for housing within the city, but a 9% increase in traffic interested in nearby secondary cities. At the same time, interest in leaving California has dropped by 30% from one quarter to the next. Apartment List attributes these trends to an ongoing interest in more affordable housing.

However, in Chicago, housing searches within the city have fallen 15%, while searches to a nearby secondary city, different metro, or different state are on the rise from Q1 to Q2. Boston tells a similar but more pronounced story; search traffic within the city has fallen 20%, while traffic from users looking to move to a different metro or state has risen 28% and 30%, respectively. The complete series of city-level search data is available here.

At this time, Apartment List says, it is not yet clear how housing trends may play out over the course of months or years, especially as COVID-19 and its economic effects progress. Influencing factors will include affordable housing as an incentive to move, as well as the impact of remote work over a long period of time.