The big city is starting to look attractive again. More than a year into the pandemic, moves from dense urban cities, like New York, San Francisco, and Boston, have started to slow. These cities lost record numbers of residents in 2020 due to density concerns, closure of entertainment and lifestyle amenities, and high costs of living, according to a new study from Updater, a technology company for the relocation industry. Updater’s report reflects an analysis of 300,000 moves over the past year.

“It’s been fascinating to watch migration patterns shift away from cities and to warmer weather climates during the pandemic,” says David Greenberg, founder and CEO of Updater. “With vaccinations underway, restrictions lifting in some of our hardest-hit cities, and companies rolling out permanent hybrid working solutions, we’re anticipating a summer moving season unlike any other with a series of new atypical patterns.”

In 2020 and into the first quarter of this year, the vast majority of movers had fled densely populated, high-priced areas for more expansive, warmer, and more affordable southern and western states, the Updater study notes.

Homeowners have focused heavily on making the backyard more functional since the pandemic, but it’s important not to forget about style and aesthetics. Interior stylists Shelby Greene and Kate Leyendecker of furniture retailer Living Spaces offer inexpensive touches that can give the backyard a luxury look.

1. Pay attention to details. Curate a corner of the backyard with matching seats, coffee tables, side tables, cushions, and throw pillows. This will create a focal point for the outdoor space and a lounge area where guests can relax and soak up the nice weather. You can also add a little bit of luxe with stylish vases, planters, and trays. These little details don’t cost much and bring a look together to create a functional and relaxing outdoor oasis.

2. Get creative with lighting. One of the easiest ways to elevate the backyard is to incorporate fun and practical lighting. It doesn’t take many lights to transform an outdoor space into a beautiful and vibrant area, especially at night.

3. Set up outdoor “rooms.” Create easily defined areas within the backyard for activities like cooking, eating, and relaxing. The separation of a dining, lounging, grilling, and kids’ play areas will create organization and a natural flow. Creating different “rooms” within the backyard will make it feel like as much of a sanctuary as your actual house.

4. Use exotic “plant furniture.” As Japandi style gains popularity, cane—a plant sourced from parts of Asia—is taking on a larger role in landscape design. Play with an international vibe by pairing cane with other “plant furniture,” such as rattan, to help the backyard feel more like an escape. Remember: Whether you’re working with outdoor chairs, benches, or sofas made of cane, it’s a good idea to layer on seat cushions to contrast textures and colors.

Apartments have shrunk in size over the past decade. But that is changing. Renters during the pandemic craved more space, and the multifamily sector is responding by expanding the square footage by making units about “one small home office larger,” according to a new study.

Thirty-six percent of 92 cities tracked are currently building larger apartments than over the last five years, according to Yardi Matrix data. Most of these multifamily projects are upsizing two-bedroom apartments and adding in a home office, particularly as remote work increases.

New apartments are increasing by nearly 50 square feet, on average. Three-bedroom apartments are getting, on average, about 105 square feet larger.

“The pandemic and work-from-home have made people more conscious of the space in which they live and work,” says Doug Ressler, manager of business intelligence at Yardi Matrix. “The pandemic has significantly accelerated issues on designers’ minds well before 2020. These issues involve the rise of the home as a workspace and a deeper emphasis on health and well-being.”

Developers also are targeting “digital nomads,” those with high incomes who are renting with mobility and lifestyle considerations in mind. “The number of people who earn over $100,000 a year is significantly higher than it was two or three years ago,” Daryl Spradley, senior vice president of Charles Wayne Consulting Inc., told the RENTCafe blog. “Those are renters, but obviously renters by choice because they can go out and buy a house.”

The cities where the largest apartments are being built are Everett, Wash.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Athens, Ga., a college town 70 miles from Atlanta. Many smaller cities are building some of the largest apartments. It’s a “residential recalibration” from urban areas to more suburban locales, where residents often can find larger accommodations and have more access to community amenities and outdoor spaces, Craig Jones, president of MBX Rental Living, told RENTCafe.

Lumber prices may soon start to recede from their recent record highs, and some home builders say they may stop taking new orders or delay projects with that expectation in mind.

Prices for lumber have surged more than 200% over the past 12 months. That has added an estimated $36,000 to the price of an average new single-family home, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

But the sky-high prices may soon back off: Lumber futures have posted slightly weaker numbers over the past month. For example, lumber futures for July delivery dropped more than 5% to $1,158 per thousand board feet. That is down more than 30% from a record of $1,711 that was set on May 10, CNBC reported this week.

So even as prices edge down even slightly, they will still be well above historic averages, Kyle Little, a lumber industry veteran, told CNBC.

“We’re in month number 12 of what we believe to be a 24-to-30-month … cyclical bull wave,” Little told CNBC. “We really believe the new three-year mean will be much, much higher—almost two times than what we’ve seen the previous 20 years.” But a pullback—at least somewhat—in lumber is inevitable as higher prices tame demand, he added.

Some builders are instructing their customers, “If it doesn’t need to be done today, it might be better time to take a breather and start this project later in the fourth quarter, possibly in Q1 of 2022,” Little told CNBC.

Buyers who head into the housing market believing they should get a home for less than the listing price may be very disappointed. Instead, they may consider that asking prices have become more like the start of an auction and be ready to start bidding.

For every listing, there is an average of 5.1 offers, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. What’s more, half of homes are being sold above list price.

Additionally, “Due to the low supply of houses for sale, many homes are now being offered in an auction-like atmosphere in which the highest bidder wins the home,” an article at Keeping Current Matters notes.

In actual auctions, many sellers often set a reserve price, which is the minimum amount a seller will accept. In today’s market frenzy, the list price for a house for sale may be more like that reserve price,, the article says. The asking price has become the starting point of the negotiation in many home sales today.

About 40% of potential buyers who were searching for a home this spring say they haven’t bought yet because they keep getting outbid, according to a survey from the National Association of Home Builders.

Knowing they have the upper hand, sellers have come to expect a bidding war for their home. Twenty-four percent of homeowners recently surveyed say they expect to get more than their asking price, and 29% of sellers plan to ask for more than what they think their home is worth, according to a survey of 657 homeowners conducted by realtor.com®.

Some buyers are going to extremes to win a home they want. Real estate pros report individual listings fetching as many as 20 offers—one even got 97 bids—as the homebuying frenzy continues. To win a bidding war, buyers may be willing to waive contingencies and stretch their budgets to the absolute max. Some buyers have even offered $100,000 above asking price, Debbie Barrera, a broker at Realty Austin in Austin, Texas, told The Wall Street Journal. She even had a buyer offer $500,000 above asking price for a home with a pool.

Builders are building more, even though overall housing inventories still feel tight. Builders in April constructed about 24% more homes than they did in April over the last couple of decades, the National Association of REALTORS® reports. Housing starts are likely to reach 1.6 million for all of 2021 and jump to 1.7 million in 2022, NAR projects.

Building permits are viewed as a gauge of future housing inventory. They provide an estimate of the number of new housing units that the local government has approved to be constructed soon. A single-family home typically takes about 10 to 12 months to build.

In April, 46% of metro areas issued more single-family building permits than the historical average.

NAR researchers analyzed 262 metro areas’ single-family building permit data. The following areas have issued the most and least single-family building permits over the 12 months from May 2020 to April 2021, according to NAR’s Economists’ Outlook blog.

Small-town homeowners say they’re fielding a growing number of inquiries about selling their homes, even though they aren’t for sale. Real estate speculators are approaching them asking if they’d be willing to sell.

Chuck Vukotich told The Wall Street Journal that multiple times a week, he receives queries about his small yellow-brick home in a working-class neighborhood in Penn Hills, Pa., 15 miles from downtown Pittsburgh. His home isn’t for sale and he doesn’t intend to sell. But he estimates he has received more than 100 inquiries on his home, mostly through mailbox fliers that offer all-cash deals and quick closings.

“I don’t mind somebody trying to make a buck, but it’s kind of a pain in the butt,” he told The Wall Street Journal.

Small-town homeowners thought such aggressiveness for listings was reserved for the larger cities. But they’re seeing their home prices bid up in the likes of big cities. The median sales price in Penn Hills, Pa., for example, is up by 19% in April compared to a year earlier.

Real estate investors are reportedly on the hunt in small towns for properties amid short supply and high buyer demand. They’re looking for inexpensive houses that they could possibly flip or rent out, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Nick Schindehette told the Journal that he mails out between 5,000 and 20,000 pink note cards a month to homeowners in 20 ZIP codes. His cards usually read, “Could we possibly discuss making you a cash offer? Either way, please let me know.”

He says a successful response rate for his note cards would be 1%. Most homeowners who accept his offer need to sell their homes quickly. He has done about 50 real estate transactions in areas he targets, which he considers “C+ neighborhoods” where homes are cheaper but could still be leased quickly.

Some investors are being accused of getting homeowners to accept lowball offers for their unlisted homes. Vukotich says he hasn’t entertained any of the offers. His neighbors say they’ve been offered about $50,000 for their homes. An investor model suggests a fixed-up house in his area might go between $115,000 and $120,000.