The pandemic-influenced shift to a work-from-home model has reversed a decade-long urbanization trend and prompted people from bigger cities to flock to suburbia, writes Peter Grant for The Wall Street Journal.

With no need for a tedious commute and a lot of cultural and culinary attractions in cities around the country closed or working at limited capacity, people are deciding to leave the busy city centers and relocate to surrounding suburbs where they can get more space for less money.

As a result, despite the recession, apartment rents in the suburbs including in the Philadelphia area have increased over the last six months. Home sales are also doing incredibly well, bringing the inventory in suburbs around Philadelphia to record lows while lifting the prices to record highs.

At the same time, rents in central business districts in popular cities have been falling. In Philadelphia, rents have already gone down between five and six percent since March.

This shift will not be short-lived, according to some real-estate analysts. Working from home is still widespread, and despite the rise in prices, the suburbs still look relatively cheap when compared with the cost of city life.

Read more about the suburbia migration at The Wall Street Journal by clicking here.

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