The Exurbs Are Booming

Exurbs were the only U.S. region to see net year-over-year growth in single-family home permits in the first quarter of 2019, according to Realtor.com.

In the exurbs, year-over-year permit growth was just 1.6% compared to a year before. It was a tepid quarter: there were declines in every other category. But NAHB has tracked the four-quarter moving average of permit applications back to 2016, and the exurbs have consistently had among the strongest interest from builders.

NAHB Chief Economist Rob Dietz is reluctant to characterize the recent outward migration as good or bad. “In order to gain access to single-family homeownership, people are choosing to pay through longer commutes,” Dietz said in an interview. Buyers have other options, Dietz points out, like townhouses in closer-in areas.

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