Camisha and Kenneth Champ of Culpeper, Va., were spending more than $100 a week to drive their Toyota Corolla 90 minutes each way to their jobs in Fairfax, Va.

"We were just working to pay for gas," says Camisha Champ, a hospital scheduler. They keep their Lincoln Navigator in the garage because it costs too much to drive.


So the couple plan next month to lease out their 4,000-square-foot home and move into a rental that is a 20-minute drive to work.

As gas creeps near $4 a gallon, economists and real estate agents are watching to see whether the surging prices will prompt more people to follow the Champs in moving closer to their jobs. The National Association of Realtors has no survey data on the impact of higher gas prices on home buyers, but agents say clients increasingly want to live near work to save commuting costs and time.

"There are a lot of people rethinking where they want to buy a home," says Rene Simpson, a real estate agent in McLean, Va., a close-in suburb of Washington. Simpson has several clients moving in from distant suburbs.