The flip side of surging suburban home prices?

How long will the migration from high rent cities to the lower priced housing of the suburbs last?

In one word: Jobs

If people continue to have jobs, prices may continue to go up or at least stay where they are. This will especially be true if interest rates stay near historic lows.

Yet if job losses begin to rise, look out below for home prices.

From Bloomberg:

Unless the economy comes roaring back to life soon, the unemployed may be forced to sell their homes for a loss or face foreclosure. They’re allowed to delay mortgage payments under a forbearance plan for up to a year. Six of the biggest U.S. banks, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., have already boosted reserves to $35 billion, bracing for a tsunami of soured loans.Buyers who purchased recently and have little equity in their homes are the most vulnerable if housing crashes again. In the Inland Empire, many stretched into homeownership using programs such as Federal Housing Administration loans, which require small down payments and allow borrowers to take on more debt with less income. Almost 16% of borrowers with FHA loans in the US. were delinquent in the second quarter, more than twice the rate for conventional loans and the highest level in records dating back to 1979, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Best in your investing and your life.