【Zillow】30-Minute Movers: How Home Shoppers Enable (or Eliminate) a Half-Hour Commute

By Kathryn Coursolle on Feb. 12, 2020

People spend an overwhelming share of their lives at home or at work, and decisions about one are closely tied to the other.

The nation’s renters, home buyers and home sellers overwhelmingly agree on one thing: They all want no more than a half-hour commute each way, according to the 2019 Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report. And many choose to find or create a home that enables them to avoid the twice-a-day slog altogether by working from home — at least some of the time.

Half-Hour Power

In general, buyers across various age groups and locations said their actual commute time was 20 minutes, and this was the same across sellers, renters and homeowners. Similarly, renters, buyers, and sellers alike all said the longest (one-way) commute they’d be willing to accept when considering a new home or job was 30 minutes.

The daily commute weighs heavily on homebuyers decisions – almost two-thirds (62%) of employed buyers said that their commute to work or school was very or extremely important in their decision of which home to buy. A similar share of renters (57%)  said the same when deciding where to sign a lease.

Only 12% of buyers in the labor force said they were willing to commute an hour or more, the same share that said they would be willing to commute 45-59 minutes. Exactly one third of buyers said they would tolerate a 30-44 minute commute, 29% said 15-29 minutes was their max and 13% said they would only accept a commute less than 15 minutes. These numbers were similar for homeowners, recently moved renters, and those that recently sold a home

Read more