Where are Homeowners Looking to Relocate?

Redfin reports that 25% of home searchers on Redfin.com are looking to relocate to a new metro in Q2 2019—a slight increase from last year. 

The report states that 24% of Redfin users during Q2 2018 were looking to move. Redfin stated that the national share of home-searchers looking to move has been at the highest level on record since Q4 2018. 

Redfin’s latest migration stats are a sample of more than 1 million Redfin.com users, searching across 87 metros from April through June. 

Phoenix was once again No. 1 on Redfin’s list for highest new inflow of Redfin users during Q2 2019. A total of 33.7% of Redfin users searched in the Phoenix metro area, which is a slight year-over-year decline from 34% and from 34.5% in Q1 2019. Los Angeles, California, was the highest origin metro for people searching in Phoenix. 

“Every buyer that I have helped to purchase a home recently has been from out of state,” said Phoenix-area Redfin agent Heather Corley. “In addition to the usual interest from California transplants, we’re seeing a lot of buyers coming from Chicago and Seattle, too. Usually the Phoenix housing market slows down going into the summer because of the heat, but we haven’t seen that yet this year.”

Phoenix was followed by Sacramento, California, and Atlanta, Georgia. Boston, Massachusetts, appeared on the list for the first time at No. 9, with most of its searches originating from New York, New York. Redfin stated that Boston has lower sales income and property taxes when compared to New York. 

The amount of Redfin users looking to leave New York jumped from 11.1% in Q2 2018 to 39.8% in Q2 2019, giving it the highest net outflow for the quarter. Expensive California metros San Francisco and Los Angeles were close behind. 

“People are increasingly looking to leave expensive coastal metros like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “Lower mortgage rates have made buying a home more affordable, but not affordable enough for typical homebuyers contending these areas’ sky-high home prices and taxes. The homebuyers who are heading out of town in search of affordability don’t just want to save a few hundred dollars per month, they want to save thousands of dollars per month, and the only way to achieve that kind of cost savings is to move somewhere more affordable.”