Right now, the hottest pandemic purchase is a house. Over the past year, 11% of Americans have moved. Unanchored by remote work and driven by the desire to be closer to family or enjoy a lower cost of living, buyers have been snapping up primary residences and second homes, leaving the coastal cities and flooding states such as Texas and Florida, as well as smaller cities, spacious suburbs, and vacation-home spots. There is a striking imbalance of supply and demand right now, there are more people who want to purchase properties than there are homes on the market. Dwindling house supply has created intense competition marked by all-cash offers and bidding wars. For those with cash to spare who are also prepared to compromise, now is a great time to find a property. Currently building a new home is not much of an alternative. While the existing listings become fewer, a new solution is to buy land and build a new house, unfortunately the raw materials needed to construct a brand new property have gotten expensive amidst the pandemic. With contractors and workers in demand it is causing labor costs to be higher leaving builders nationwide to complete new builds or finish renovations and projects on “fixer-upper” homes. With employees working almost completely remote it is showing that they are leaving their big-city apartments to experiment with a life in the suburbs, more rural areas and different states. The most common areas that American’s have chosen to relocate to are Texas, Florida and Colorado.