Land investors predict rural real estate boom will continue post-pandemic, but a rural broadband and tech gap persists

Pew Research Center chart showing home broadband connection as of Feb. 8, 2021

The pandemic prompted many city dwellers to move to rural areas, and that trend will likely continue after the pandemic, according to a new survey from those interested in rural real estate. LandThink, an affiliate of real-estate site LandFlip, asked readers in April if they believed the rural real estate trend will continue post-Covid; 77.6 percent of respondents said yes.

Respondents cited factors such as the increasing popularity of remote work as reasons buyers may want to—or at least now be able to—move to a rural area. Growing rural broadband access is helping make that possible, according to an April Pew Research Center report. 

However, as Pew notes, a rural tech gap persists: as of 2020, 95% of urban Americans use the internet, compared to 94% of suburbans and 90% of rural Americans. And as of Feb. 8, only 72% of rural respondents said they had home broadband service, compared to 77% of urban respondents and 79% of suburban respondents. Rural residents were the most likely to report relying on a smartphone instead of home broadband in 2021, with 17% of rural respondents reporting so, compared to 16% of urban dwellers and 12% of suburbanites.