Zoom towns are dying.

With the Covid-19 pandemic now a distant memory, corporate giants like Amazon, Blackrock, AT&T, Google and Walmart have all said their employees must come back to the office three to five days a week by the end of the year. 

There’s just one problem — they don’t live anywhere near it. 

Now, remote workers who bought a home and moved to the South and Mountain West are desperate to get out as they are forced back to coastal states. 

Affordable cities like Austin, TX, Tampa, FL, Phoenix, AZ, Atlanta, GA, and Charlotte, NC, all saw significant population increases from remote workers from 2020 to 2024.

Now, they’re all listing their homes at once, flooding the market in Covid-era hotspots and selling at a loss. Austin is in the most trouble. 

‘I just met with a prospective seller who bought her home for $420,000 in 2022 and would probably only get $250,000 if she sells it today,’ said Austin Redfin real estate agent Andrew Vallejo.

‘That was a hard conversation, but the good news is lower prices are making it easier for some buyers to break into the market.’

The skyline in Austin, Texas, where remote workers are desperate to sell after being forced back into the office in jobs that are in other states

The skyline in Austin, Texas, where remote workers are desperate to sell after being forced back into the office in jobs that are in other states

Austin Redfin real estate agent Andrew Vallejo

Austin Redfin real estate agent Andrew Vallejo

He continued: ‘Sellers are offering to pay buyers’ closing costs, and the market has slowed.

‘A lot of prospective buyers are in wait-and-see mode — some are grappling with decision paralysis because there are so many homes on the market.’

Desperate for more room during Covid, many paid high pandemic prices, made all-cash offers, got into bidding wars, and paid over asking price for their homes. 

From 2020 to 2023, 250,000 American workers moved to metros with a high share of homes in mild-weather climates, reports the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. That is two and a half times as many as before 2020.

There are now so many listings, sellers are slashing prices in order to offload their properties, but buyers still aren’t biting. Most homes in those metros are either lingering on the market or being pulled off altogether. 

Austin was the fastest-growing large metro area from 2020 to 2022, with 120,000 new people moving there. This equated to a population increase of 5.3 percent, according to the US Census.

With homes in high demand, prices in the city jumped more than 60 percent in that same time period, Zillow reports.

Now, the number of homes listed for sale in Austin is up 8.34 percent since 2020, reports Parcl Labs, which compiles real estate data. 

Corporate giants like Amazon, Blackrock, AT&T, Google and Walmart have all said their employees must come back to the office

Corporate giants like Amazon, Blackrock, AT&T, Google and Walmart have all said their employees must come back to the office 

However, the amount of people moving there has declined. 

In mid-2023 to mid 2024, less than 14,000 people moved to Austin.

After peaking in summer 2022, home values in Austin have dropped more than 23 percent. The average home price there is now $497,815, reports Zillow.

Remote workers also invaded Phoenix, which has seen a flood of new listings.

‘Some people who aren’t getting the price they are asking for are resorting to pulling their homes off the market,’ local realtor Manny Bermudez told The Daily Mail.

‘I also think remote workers who lived through the Phoenix summers decided to leave.’

According to the Phoenix Business Journal, there has been a surge in remote work requests in the city as employers grapple with return-to-office mandates.

The average home price in Phoenix is $407,541, down 4.6 percent over the past year, according to Zillow. There are currently 5,299 homes listed for sale there, with 1,323 new homes being listed in September alone.

In Phoenix, Arizona, homes are flooding the market as people can no longer work remotely from the Covid-era hotspot

In Phoenix, Arizona, homes are flooding the market as people can no longer work remotely from the Covid-era hotspot

There has been a surge in remote work requests in Phoenix as employers grapple with return-to-office mandates

There has been a surge in remote work requests in Phoenix as employers grapple with return-to-office mandates

The average home price in Phoenix is $407,541, down 4.6 percent over the past year

The average home price in Phoenix is $407,541, down 4.6 percent over the past year

There is also a mass exodus in Tampa. 

Migration to the city dropped 70 percent year over year from mid-2024 to mid-2025, amid rising costs and remote work mandates.

For homeowners, insurance rates have also skyrocketed, especially after hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Many of the listings in Tampa are condos, which are losing value at a concerning pace.

‘Since the Surfside condo collapse, there have been new laws that require HOAs to charge more of condo owners, and those added costs mean more condos are listed,’ Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather said.

The average home price in Tampa is currently $369,353. This is down 5.2 percent year-over-year between September 2024 and 2025, reports Zillow.

Tampa had a total of 3,099 homes for sale in September, with 742 new listings added that month.

Homeowners also want out of Atlanta, where the average home price is now $375,000, down 5.1 percent since September 2024, reports Redfin.

Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather

Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather 

In Tampa, Florida, buyers paid high prices, made all-cash offers, got into bidding wars, and paid over asking price during the pandemic

In Tampa, Florida, buyers paid high prices, made all-cash offers, got into bidding wars, and paid over asking price during the pandemic

Homeowners also want out of Atlanta, where the average home price is now $375,000, down 5.1 percent since September 2024

Homeowners also want out of Atlanta, where the average home price is now $375,000, down 5.1 percent since September 2024

In September, there were 5,044 listings in the city, with 897 new homes listed that month.

Many remote workers from the North had flocked to the Southern city for its high number of coworking spaces, high-ranking public Wi-Fi access, and weather that is warm year-round.

But Census data shows more people left Atlanta than moved to it during the 12 months that ended in mid-2024.

That was the first time the Atlanta metro had lost more people than it gained since the Census Bureau started detailing these numbers three decades ago.

The city averaged about 33,000 newcomers a year from 2015 to 2020.

In a sign of the times, an Atlanta building once famous for displaying a huge ticker that tracked Atlanta’s massive population growth has gone into foreclosure.

In Charlotte, many remote workers with young families moved in from New York, Los Angeles and Chicago because the cost of living is much lower and the schools are good.

The average home in Charlotte costs $395,529, down 1.5 percent over the past year.

Many remote workers loved the weather and the affordability of Tampa, but can no longer work remote and are being forced to sell at a low price

Many remote workers loved the weather and the affordability of Tampa, but can no longer work remote and are being forced to sell at a low price

Across the US, the average number of days employees are required to be in the office rose 12 percent year-over-year August 2024 to 2025, forcing people to move out of Phoenix

Across the US, the average number of days employees are required to be in the office rose 12 percent year-over-year August 2024 to 2025, forcing people to move out of Phoenix

In September, the number of listings on the market in the North Carolina city grew 4.3 percent from the month before to 3,860.

Homes are also selling slower than at the same time last year, according to Zillow. 

And it’s only going to get worse. 

Across the US, the average number of days employees are required to be in the office rose 12 percent year-over-year from August 2024 to 2025, according to a report by Flex Index.

‘So many companies got a whiff of people actually feeling a slightly better work-life balance doing work from home and decided joy was not part of the benefit package,’ one worker commented on Reddit.

Employers disagree.

JPMorgan Chase said returning to the office five days a week was essential to mentor new employees and foster company culture.

But one study by SurveyMonkey determined that long commutes increase stress and reduce productivity for in-office workers.