Migration to Smaller Centres Growing

The evidence is mounting. The hottest real estate markets in the US today are rural, in Montana and Idaho.

COVID is encouraging more and more people to move to quieter communities in pursuit of more space.

Last week Weyburn city councillor Ryan Janke suggested mounting a campaign to encourage people from big cities like Toronto to consider moving there. In Toronto, they are moving to the suburbs for bigger houses, yards and lower costs in response to the Work-From-Home evolution. But if you really want to embrace the idea, he argued, Weyburn housing is even cheaper – perhaps 80% cheaper and if you’re working remotely, it doesn’t matter where you work from.

That idea may be novel in this country that is far from the case south of the border. A weekend Wall Street Journal report showed two of the hottest markets are Coeur D’Alene and Billings as people trade in big city life for a quieter, resort-like lifestyle as 60% of workers say they want to work from home at least some of the time COVID or not.