The pandemic intensified some preexisting migration trends, including one with a link to multifamily investment: People moving during the worst part of the pandemic were drawn to markets with single-family homes available — and tended to leave apartment-heavy regions.
According to data from consumer tracking firm Placer.ai, cities where multifamily housing made up a higher percentage of the housing stock were more likely to see an outflow of residents between 2020 and 2022, while cities with a higher proportion of single-family homes under construction tended draw more new residents. And while those trends were around before the pandemic, COVID-19 made both more pronounced, though with pandemic disruptions showing signs of easing, these trends could become less pronounced over time.
New York and Los Angeles, markets with 48.2% and 51.4% of households living in rental units, respectively, saw the most departures of any cities in the report, notching rates of outbound migration upward of 0.15%, while Boise, Idaho, a city with only 31.3% of its population renting, saw its population grow by 0.07%, the largest jump of any city in the report.
The movement tracked in the report amplified pre-pandemic trends, with the pandemic appearing to intensify city dwellers' urge to find greener pastures, with the trend lines noticeably steepening between 2018-2019 and 2020-2022. The correlation even carried over to multifamily housing starts, with more people leaving cities where rental housing made up a greater share of the housing projects getting underway.