In the first quarter of 2017, nearly one in five home buyers focused their online searches on properties outside of their current metro area,
according to an analysis by Redfin of nearly 1 million users searching for homes across 75 metro areas.
There are not enough “budget-friendly housing” options to make consumers want to stay loyal to their current cities, says Nela Richardson, Redfin’s chief economist. “For many, the only path to homeownership is to pack up and move out.”
San Francisco Bay Area residents were shown to be the most likely to be in search of more affordable metro areas online. Indeed, some of the priciest metros were found to have the largest net outflow of residents looking at other places to move to. Metro areas in the South tended to be more likely to attract migrants from the coasts, the analysis showed.
So where are these online home searchers looking to relocate to? Redfin cited the following 10 metros as garnering the most out-of-town views (cited along with city where the searchers are most likely to be currently living).
1. Sacramento, Calif.
- The percentage of out-of-town shoppers: 35.4%
- Where the most buyers currently live: San Francisco
2. Phoenix
- The percentage of out-of-town shoppers: 27.9%
- Where the most buyers currently live: Los Angeles
3. Las Vegas
- The percentage of out-of-town shoppers: 35.9%
- Where the most buyers currently live: Los Angeles
4. Dallas
- The percentage of out-of-town shoppers: 22.5%
- Where the most buyers currently live: Los Angeles
5. Atlanta
- The percentage of out-of-town shoppers: 20%
- Where the most buyers currently live: Washington, D.C.
6. Portland, Ore.
- The percentage of out-of-town shoppers: 15.1%
- Where the most buyers currently live: San Francisco
7. Tampa, Fla.
- The percentage of out-of-town shoppers: 52.4%
- Where the most buyers currently live: Washington, D.C.
8. Miami
- The percentage of out-of-town shoppers: 23.1%
- Where the most buyers currently live: New York
9. Austin, Texas
- The percentage of out-of-town shoppers: 22.2%
- Where the most buyers currently live: San Francisco
10. San Diego
- The percentage of out-of-town shoppers: 21.8%
- Where the most buyers currently live: Los Angeles
Source: “Top 10 Cities for Out-of-Town House Hunters,” National Mortgage News (May 24, 2017)
