Bank of America: Fewer Moves, More HELOC
Americans are moving less in 2026 but spending more on services when they do, while increasingly using home equity lines of credit to renovate their
Americans changed addresses less in the second quarter of 2026, continuing a broad-based decline across income groups and generations. According to a new Bank of America Institute report, homeowners are increasingly turning to home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) to fund renovations rather than financing a move to a new property.
The slowdown in mobility is most pronounced for lower-income households, followed by middle-income ones. Higher-income customers show a more modest pullback but are still moving less than a year ago. Millennials show the steepest decline in movers. Gen X movers are down about 5% year over year, and baby boomers are down about 4%. Gen Z is the only cohort with more movers than two years earlier, but its activity has softened over the past year.
For housing professionals, this trend means less churn in for-sale and rental markets. It creates more pressure to find business through refinances, HELOCs, and renovation financing instead of purchase originations or relocation-driven listings.
Midwest Metros Lead Population Growth
The report found that the Midwest continues to lead domestic population growth. Many of the fastest-growing metro areas are in that region, although Salt Lake City ranked as the fastest-growing metro overall in Q2 2026. Midwest metros such as Indianapolis, Columbus, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Milwaukee remained among the leaders.
Southern metros like Raleigh, North Carolina, and Birmingham, Alabama, maintained solid growth. Birmingham’s population growth accelerated in Q2 2026. Pittsburgh was the fastest-growing Northeastern metro in the dataset.
Populations continued to fall in most of the largest U.S. metros, with notable exceptions being Dallas, Phoenix, and Philadelphia. Outflows picked up slightly in Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C., but moderated in Los Angeles, New York City, and Miami.
Florida’s pattern appears to be stabilizing. The report notes a deceleration in population outflows across most major Florida metropolitan areas. In Orlando, outflows slowed modestly, while in Tampa, they effectively stalled. Jacksonville saw an acceleration in population growth.
These shifts reinforce a post-pandemic pattern of growth in smaller and mid-sized markets, especially in the Midwest and selected Sun Belt metros.
Fewer Moves, But Higher Related Spending
Despite the decline in movers, spending around moves is rising. Bank of America card data shows that average total card spending per household in the six months leading up to a move, the month of the move, and the six months after rose significantly year over year for movers in July 2026.
For households that moved in July, total card spending increased 9.5% year over year, based on a three-month moving average. This compares with a 5.5% year-over-year increase for all customers. Spending at moving companies also increased, as did online spending tied to moves. The report suggests some of this uptick likely reflects higher gas prices feeding into moving company costs.
In contrast, spending at furniture and home improvement retailers among movers rose only about 1% year over year. Bank of America Institute interprets this as a shift toward convenience, with more money going to moving-related services and online purchases.
HELOC Utilization Rises for Renovations
Bank of America data indicates that homeowners are leaning more on HELOCs to finance home-related spending. Overall HELOC utilization rates have climbed since 2024 and are now above their 2014 to 2019 average.
HELOC-funded spending on homes and on services was up sharply both year over year and relative to pre-pandemic levels as of June 2026. While home spending growth has decelerated somewhat in 2026 compared with 2025, services and transfers or withdrawals funded by HELOCs have accelerated. The report notes that some of these transfers may reflect renovation work paid directly to contractors.
Even with recent gains, HELOC-funded services spending remains well below the spike seen in summer 2020. The data points to a durable base of renovation activity supported by home equity.
For lenders, HELOCs and other equity products look increasingly important as purchase volumes remain constrained. The report relies on aggregated and anonymized Bank of America internal data from consumer accounts from Q1 2023 through Q2 2026.
