Rumors swirled this weekend amid news the longtime 'Bachelor' host was packing his bags and moving to Barton Creek -- just outside of Austin -- with his girlfriend, Lauren Zima. Folks heard that and thought ... the dude might be exiting his role with the franchise forever.

That's not the case though -- production sources with direct knowledge tell us he is NOT leaving the show ... he's simply relocating, partly because of a recent partnership deal he struck with a local brewery. He's also from Texas -- once hailing from Dallas -- but as far as work ... we're told he'll commute.

NBD really, tons of stars do this these days ... including one Ryan Seacrest, who pretty much lives bicoastal now because of his NYC-based hosting gig on 'Ryan & Kelly,' along with his L.A. based 'American Idol." Same idea for Chris, and in fact, his commute is much shorter.

Another reason folks thought he was hanging up his tux is because he was MIA for 2 weeks and JoJo Fletcher took over the hosting duties. We're told he was absent because he took his son to college -- in Texas -- and had to quarantine for 2 weeks before returning to the set.