To move or not to move: A review of residential relocation trends after COVID-19

The restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic have led to significant changes in travel behaviour and public activities, and they might have contributed to changes in residential location choices. However, research examining the relationship between residential location choice and COVID-19 is very limited. To that end, this paper focuses on how pandemic-induced changes in work patterns, travel preferences and daily activity patterns have altered residential preferences and potentially, relocation trends. The main determinants of residential location choice have been established in the literature over the past 30 years: physical attributes of the dwelling; surrounding built environment; affordability; and accessibility to transportation, workplaces, and services. However, each of these determinants are prioritised differently depending on the circumstances. Therefore, exploring how these priorities have shifted after the pandemic can pave the way for understanding how preferences for residential location choice shift as a consequence. From the review, the key findings include the decreasing importance of transport and workplace accessibility in residential location choice after the pandemic. Firstly, teleworking is becoming more prevalent within office jobs than before the pandemic, leading to less frequent trips to conventional workplaces, reducing the need to live within a commutable distance to a workplace. Secondly, trips to other activities have likewise become less frequent due to either remote alternatives (e.g., online shopping) or shifting towards services closer to home, reducing the need to travel in general. Another consequence of the pandemic is people staying at home longer than before, thus increasing the need for more desirable dwelling attributes such as larger house size and wider surrounding green space. Since these attributes are generally more affordable in areas less accessible to transport and services, this may subsequently lead to migrations to areas of lower population density, potentially decentralising urban areas.