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More Americans are planning to move this year due to the flexible home lifestyle that the Covid-19 pandemic brought, market researcher The NPD Group said in a recent blog post.
Nearly 20% of people in the country are working from home full time until December and 28% of Americans considered the change during the pandemic, said the NPD. In addition, 20% more consumers are planning to move this year compared to the previous year.
The NPD’s comments come with winter ending and the peak months for change, from May to September, are ahead.
As people become more comfortable with the ability to work anywhere, they realize that they do not need to be stuck in a particular location near an office to support themselves or their families. This gives them the possibility to live in an area with a lower cost of living or closer to the family, NPD said.
As a result of increased interest in the move, sales of supplies and handling services have skyrocketed. Last year, online sales in the portable and mass storage categories grew at a rate five times higher than the previous year. NPD said it expects growth to continue until 2021. Sales have also grown at office supply stores and hardware retailers.
Shipping and shipping supplies also increased fivefold in 2020 over the previous year, according to the NPD. These sales were driven by people buying corrugated boxes and packaging tapes.
LinkedIn looked at the major cities that American workers moved from April 2020 to October 2020, with Austin, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona being the first, largely due to the cheaper cost of living.
The NPD Group was not immediately available for comment.