The River of Real Estate: Why People Keep Moving in Every Market

The River of Real Estate: Why People Move in Every Market

For the last five years, our team at Lemonade Real Estate has been coached by Workman Success Systems. It's an incredible coaching business with an amazing culture. Truth be told that is actually how I got my start in the Real Estate Industry. I am personally grateful to this company and the fantastic relationship we have built has helped shape many of the systems and ideas we use in our business today. One concept they've talked about in their training is something called the River of Real Estate, and I thought it was a really interesting way to look at the housing market.

The basic idea is that there is always a certain amount of natural movement happening in real estate. Sometimes the river is moving quickly with “more transactions”. Other times it is moving more slowly with “fewer transactions”. But the main idea is that regardless of economic pressure, political unrest, interest rate escalation or other factors affecting people’s housing situation, people are constantly entering and leaving the market because, well... life happens.

Why Do People Actually Move?

Workman shared research from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies that helped illustrate the idea. At the time of Harvard's analysis, roughly 13% of Americans moved each year. Of those moves, about 40% were primarily housing-related, 27% were family-related, 21% were job-related and the remaining 12% were for other reasons.

Think about everything hidden within those four categories. People move because of new jobs, marriages, divorces, growing families, military orders, retirement or education. Some are becoming homeowners for the first time, while others are upsizing, downsizing or navigating financial hardship. A move might come after the death of a family member, a desire for a shorter commute, the need to be closer to family, or simply wanting a different neighborhood or better schools. There are countless reasons people move, and most of them begin with something changing in their lives.

So I Went Back and Looked at the Greater Salt Lake Market

This is where the River of Real Estate became really interesting to me. I wanted to see whether the idea showed up in our own market, so I looked at residential transactions across Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, Tooele and Utah counties. At the peak of the COVID-era housing market, approximately 37,300 transactions occurred across those five counties in a single year. Anyone who experienced that market remembers how crazy it felt. Mortgage rates were around 3%, inventory was incredibly tight, multiple offers were common and homes could sell almost immediately.

Then I looked at 2025. Across those same five counties, there were 31,194 transactions. That number surprised me. Think about how different those two markets were. One had historically low mortgage rates and a frenzy of buyer activity. The other had mortgage rates above 6%, significant affordability concerns and far more hesitation from both buyers and sellers. Yet the difference between them was only a little more than 6,000 transactions. In fact, 2025 still produced roughly 84% of the transaction volume of the COVID-era peak. That's when the River of Real Estate really started to make sense to me.

The market absolutely influences whether people move. Higher rates, home prices and affordability can cause someone who doesn't need to move to stay put, especially if they're sitting on a 3% mortgage. But they don't stop life from happening. People still change jobs, grow their families, get married, divorce, retire, downsize, relocate and buy their first homes. Those circumstances create a natural flow of people into and out of real estate regardless of what the broader market is doing. The river may speed up or slow down, but those two remarkably different markets illustrate the point.

It's Okay to Move

Maybe the better question isn't, "Is this a good market to move?" Maybe it's, "Does my current home still fit my life?"

If it does, great. But if your family needs more space, a shorter commute, a different neighborhood, better schools or simply a change in living conditions, it's okay to explore that. Interest rates, the economy and the political climate all matter, but they shouldn't automatically prevent you from making a move that could improve your life. There is no perfect market. Every market comes with advantages and tradeoffs. The goal is to understand the market you're in and determine whether you can make the move responsibly.

That's where a consultation can help. If you're feeling the symptoms that your current home no longer fits, reach out to our team at Lemonade Real Estate. We'll help you look at the numbers, understand your options and determine what makes sense for you, even if the best decision is to stay exactly where you are.

The River of Real Estate keeps moving because life keeps moving. When your needs change, it's okay for your home to change with them.

-Sweetly Guiding You Home