As home prices increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, prospective home buyers increased their Google searches for “houses near me” significantly from 2019 to 2020 and 2021, according to an analysis by Point2Homes.
They also spent way more time trying to find ways to make their current living arrangements more tolerable.
- Homebuyers’ searches show an increase in terms like houses for sale near me (up 123% in 2020 and a further 22% in 2021), with realtors near me or movers near me, going up by 132% and 125%, respectively, in 2021 compared to 2020;
- Renters brought new search phrases into the spotlight throughout 2020 and 2021, like rent relief, which spiked from a low 10 searches per month in 2019 to 2,400 in 2020, along with eviction moratorium which went from 10 searches per month in 2019 to 1,600 in 2021; although rent assistance went up by 50% in 2020, it went down by 65% in 2021;
- Homeowners’ interest in ways to improve the living space, which for many, also became the workspace, spiked during the first year of the pandemic: home office design (up 171% in 2020), how to paint kitchen cabinets (up 90% in 2020), apartment plants (up 85% in 2020), along with house renovation and other DIY-related keywords (up 60% in 2020); mortgage refinancing and how much my home is worth also increased steadily during 2020 (up 50% compared to 2019).
Meanwhile, the same study in the US found the pandemic generated a K-shaped response, where economic performances of different sectors, industries, and groups within an economy diverge in two paths like the arms of the letter “K.” While searches for affordable homes and “tiny home for sale” increased significantly between 2019 and 2020-2021, the number of monthly searches also increased for “luxury homes” and “penthouse for sale” (both increased 50% in 2020).
For renters, terms such as “rent relief,” “rent assistance,” and “eviction moratorium” increased significantly during the pandemic as a result of pandemic-induced changes in lifestyle and economic hardships. “Rent relief” generated only 90 searches per month in 2019, but was searched 49,500 times per month in 2021. “Eviction moratorium” increased from 40 searches per month in 2019 to 40,500 per month in 2021.
Searches for subleasing, luxury
Additionally, with many renters forced to avoid big American cities, Point2Homes found searches on Google for “subleasing” increased 22% during the peak months of uncertainty in 2020. Search terms among renters also lent credence to the K-shaped recovery theory, with search terms for “luxury home for rent” and “luxury condo for rent” also increasing by about 50% during 2020 compared with 2019.
Homeowner search terms also showed diverging impacts due to the pandemic, with interest in “mortgage refinancing” and “buying a second home” both increasing by more than 50% during 2020. Point2Homes also found homeowner search terms for several common DIY projects, such as painting walls, painting kitchen cabinets, and home office design increased during the pandemic.
For the study, Point2Homes chose common and frequently used search terms related to real estate in 2020 and 2021 and compared their average number of searches with 2019, splitting keywords into home buyer, renter, and homeowner categories.
