According to the US Census Bureau, approximately 25.6 million Americans moved in 2023, signifying a decline of 9% compared to 2022. This marks the lowest percentage of movers since records began in 1948. This reported trend is confirmed by Speedeon Data's market-leading mover data product which is used to compare mover quantities over the last few years.

Several factors have contributed to this downturn in movers:

Rising Interest Rates

Surging interest rates in 2022 made homeownership less affordable, discouraging many potential movers from purchasing new homes. Many current homeowners have a significantly lower interest rate on their current home than the market currently provides, so they are holding out hope of interest rate drops before they consider moving.

Economic Uncertainty

Economic concerns sparked by inflation and recession fears created a sense of financial insecurity, leading many to postpone relocation plans.

Changing Work Dynamics

The growth of remote and hybrid work models decreased the need for employees to relocate for employment opportunities. After an initial surge of mover's post-pandemic in 2022, as work from home has become more of a standard, this has settled down.

Lack of Inventory Coming on the Market from Boomers

The trend in boomers not moving out of their homes to downsize after empty nesting is leading to a lack of family home inventory and higher prices, causing issues for Millennials looking to buy family homes.

Evolving Migration Patterns

While the overall number of movers decreased, interesting trends emerged in migration patterns across the US. The HireAHelper Moving Migration Report reveals a continued shift towards the South and East.

Winners included Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Texas as these states retained their popularity as inbound relocation destinations due to factors such as lower taxes, a warmer climate, and a greater abundance of job opportunities.

Again, Speedeon corroborated this by looking at our mover data; however, we show that Arizona trended above the Carolinas.

Looking to the Future

Many economists believe we should have hit a recession now, as has been the case in Japan and the UK. However, against these predictions, the economy grew 3.1 percent last year and increased by over 1 percent in 2022. However, events took place that kept this from happening; while prices and mortgage rates are high, they have not surged too high. Hiring slowed, and consumer spending cooled, both gradually. The pause in interest rate hikes led to the housing market settling even at a lower level than in previous years.

With all these factors the hopes of a soft landing for the economy look good; however this is still dependent on inflation coming down and interest rates lowering. If things continue and interest rates start to lower, we predict that moving volumes should start to trend up over the course of the year.

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Since 2008, Speedeon Data has been enabling leading brands to achieve remarkable success through data-driven insights, impactful customer engagement, and measurable omni-channel marketing deployment. Speedeon Data consistently achieves top ranks in truth{set}s third party data accuracy verification scoring and is an industry leader of marketing data, including life event focused solutions.

Through its robust customer intelligence platform, AudienceMaker, Speedeon enables clients to learn more about their customers and find more like them. The platform offers instant access to Speedeon's national marketing database, including demographic, psychographic, life event and shopping intent data. Marketers are able to maximize their time and overall advertising ROI through the platform's point-and-click capabilities including data cleansing, enrichment, profiling, predictive modeling, advanced audience segmentation and digital and other direct marketing deployment strategies. For more information on Speedeon Data visit SpeedeonData.com or email info@speedeondata.com.

COMTEX_449930007/2850/2024-03-27T15:49:33