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Despite what cable news is saying every day, a mass migration to the suburbs isn?t happening. Over the weekend, the New York Times published a story about how there are bidding wars for homes in tristate area suburbs, and how urban apartment dwellers (especially those with kids) are worried about the uncertainties of living in crowded cities come winter. It?s the latest piece to explore the impacts of COVID-19 on national housing markets, and seems to support the theory that cities are being abandoned en masse in favor of suburbs. This theory has frequently been posited by the New York City?based news media, where TV producers and newspaper editors know many professionals with the means to relocate. But it seems to be something of a distorted narrative; The past six months of housing data clearly indicate that the trend is really only visible in two places (both of which were, until recently, among the most overheated housing markets on the planet): Manhattan and San Francisco, which were seeing outbound migration prior to the pandemic because of extremely expensive housing. There?s no shortage of examples of the COVID-19 urban flight story. CNBC.com doubled down on it with a June headline of ?The flight to the suburbs is real and growing.? On its cable network, CNBC recycles this narrative regularly, and opened a segment on the housing market this week by saying, ?The housing market is staying hot as people continue to flee the big cities for ...