Why are people moving?
Why are people moving?
As a rental manager we are privy to some housing trends in the market before they become popularly known. Here are a few of the narratives we have heard since covid started.
When covid hit everyone was told to stay at home for work purposes. Surprisingly this created the first narrative we heard as a result of covid.
Immediately following the work at home announcement people started showing up looking to rent giving us the narrative that they need more space and were willing to move further away from the office for the place that gave them more space. It took a few months for the media to identify this trend. This started in the summer of 2020 and carried on through to the fall of 2020 until the second narrative began.
What happened next was in the fall of 2020 house sales took off creating a “must move" narrative due to the place I am living in has just been sold. In the fall of 2020 we started hearing from prospective tenants that they have to move due to the sale of the condo they are living in. This became a very significant narrative with almost all of the tenants we rented to from Nov 2020 through 2021 in this situation. We were still hearing the first narrative as well but by early 2021 the need to move had replaced the need for more space. This was also the start of the significant increase in rental prices as tenants were panicking to find any places to rent due to the supply being reduced witht he number of properties sold. When sales increase and remove rental products from the market, rental rates can only go in one direction and that is up due to a restriction of the supply.
By the end of 2021 and in early 2022 we started hearing the third and narrative. For most of 2021 nine out of ten prospects coming to view a property were saying the place they lived in was sold. In the fall of 2021 we started to hear people saying we are just looking to upgrade where we live. They may have moved into a two bedroom place in 2020 or earlier but now rates were starting to level off and were not renting as soon as they were advertised. For the majority of 2022 our new tenants were people moving for preference of location or quality of rental product not a need to move.
In early 2023 we started to hear the fourth narrative, office time. During covid many people relocated away from the office due to work from home options. Now business was starting to ask or demand for one or more days in the office. At first the commute was okay, then as the days were added it started to get more difficult and tenants started looking for places closer to their offices.
In 2024 we started to hear the next narrative, a modification of the office call back. Now that people are going to the office, tenants started looking for an improvement on their current living situation. This could be closer to work, closer to transit, closer to school, larger space or a better area. This narrative combines all the narratives and is the traditional reason people seek places to rent. This narrative is what we are still experiencing today. We have come full circle back to the main reasons people look for housing, what meets their needs.
Tenants are being more selective with their choices before making a decision.
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