3 Million Fewer Move in 1985-86 : Americans’ Mobility Dips in New Count

The number of Americans changing residences dipped after the 1984-85 burst of home sales triggered by falling interest rates, the Census Bureau says.

About 3 million fewer Americans moved between 1985-86 than in the previous year, with virtually all of the drop occurring in the category of moves within the same county, according to the geographical mobility report released Tuesday by the bureau.

Lower interest rates unleashed a pent-up demand for new homes in the 1984-85 year, boosting the mobility rate to 20.2%, highest in this decade, said Kristin A. Hansen, an analyst in the bureau’s Population Division.

But in 1985-86, the rate of movement slipped back to 18.6%, a decline, but still the second highest rate in the 1980s, she said.

The figures are the most recent detailed statistics on mobility available. However, data collected by the departments of Commerce and Housing and Urban Development indicate that continued low interest rates helped spur strong sales of both new and existing homes last year.

Mobility rates fell to all-time lows early in this decade, Hansen said, as people postponed their quests for better homes because of high interest rates.

The mobility low of 16.6% of Americans age 1 and over was achieved in 1982-83, Census Bureau figures show. The level was about 20% throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

Mobility statistics were first recorded in 1948, when it was found that 19.9% of Americans had moved in the previous year.

In the 1970s, Hansen explained, rates of moving declined because of the decline in the size of families. People no longer needed to seek larger homes to accommodate more people, she commented.

Also, there was a slight increase in homeownership in that period, and owners are less likely to relocate than renters.

In the 1985-86 year the main change was in the number of residents who moved within the same county, 13.1% compared to 11.3% a year earlier.

“Local reasons for moving are usually housing-related or changes in life cycles” she said, such as children moving to their own homes, getting married and so forth.

Regionally, the Northeast continued to lose people to other regions, with a net loss of 250,000 movers, while the West continued to gain, receiving about 200,000.

The Midwest reversed its recent pattern of loss, however, gaining about 15,000 interstate movers in the year, while the influx to the South was down to only 35,000 new residents.

Hansen speculated that this is a result of the recent problems in the energy industry in such southern states as Texas and Louisiana.