Thread by @torrHL

"New Life and Work Choices Revitalize Exurbs, Bringing New Strains -

Lower costs and remote work are drawing droves of people to the exurbs of Southeastern metropolitan areas."

wsj.com/articles/new-l…

"Nashville, Charlotte, N.C., Charleston, S.C., and Jacksonville, Fla., are among the places getting the type of outer-ring residential development once found only around the country’s largest cities."

"In 2020, net migration into a large group of exurban counties rose 37%, according to an analysis of U.S. Postal Service permanent change-of-address data by The Wall Street Journal.

Nearly two-thirds of the flow came from large cities and their close-in suburbs."

"Exurban areas, which include 240 counties as defined by the Brookings Institution, grew at almost twice the national rate over the past decade, a shift that began before the pandemic."

"There are signs it is accelerating this year as Americans prepare for an expected post-pandemic landscape where increased working from home reduces the need to commute."

"Researchers differ in defining exurbs, but they generally include the fast-growing outer fringes of large metro areas where single-family homes mix with farms and many workers have traditionally commuted a significant distance to the core of the metro area."

"An analysis of building-permit data by the National Association of Home Builders found that for the year ended in March, exurban counties outside large metro areas saw construction of single-family homes rise 20% from the year-earlier period."

"That was more than twice the rate for core counties in those metro areas."

"“Clearly, it will transform the South,” Susan Wachter, a professor of real estate at the Wharton School at the University of PA, said of exurban growth.

The region is benefiting from lower costs that are drawing tech companies and other businesses looking for cheaper locations"

"Those underlying drivers make this boom in exurban living different from one that started during the early 2000s, when exurbs were concentrated in California, the priciest pockets of the Northeast and a handful of other top metro areas."

"The U.S. population is growing more slowly than it was two decades ago, and cities are likely to feel the loss of residents more acutely as stores and employers follow transplants to the fringe."

"In the Southeast, the influx to exurban areas is driving up real-estate prices, crowding schools, worsening traffic and straining government services.

It is sparking debates over whether to raise taxes, increase regulations and protect green spaces."

CC: @modassic @tminus5