Mirroring the trend happening in Washington D.C. and elsewhere, the New York Times reports that workers in the NYC metro area are moving further and further out to find affordable housing:
Priced out of an increasingly expensive real estate market in close-in areas like Westchester, Bergen and Nassau Counties, some workers are pushing their commutes up to the two-hour mark, and even beyond. It is the price they are willing to pay to own the home of their dreams, said Alan E. Pisarski, the author of a series of books titled “Commuting in America” (the third is being published by the National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board). “In essence, what this group of commuters is doing,” Mr. Pisarski explained, “is contributing to their house payment with travel time.” . . . . With the cost of residential real estate rising sharply in recent years, the geographical boundaries of the New York metropolitan area are being redrawn. Bulldozers are clearing farmland once considered too far away for a commute to Manhattan, real estate agencies are opening offices in outlying areas, and elected officials in once-rural communities are being pressured to contain the encroaching sprawl. Meanwhile, public transportation providers like Metro-North are adding service earlier in the morning and in the evening to accommodate their riders’ changing needs. And many of those riders are changing their routines, optimizing the increased travel time to and from work by opening their laptops and BlackBerries en route.
See this post from last year on a similar phenomenon going on in the regulation-happy D.C. metro area.