Based on Redfin.com home searches, 28.7% of people searching for homes looked for properties outside their metro area in July and August. This is a 27.4% increase since the second quarter. As buyers continue to leave New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, searches in Sacramento, Tampa, and Las Vegas come mainly from out-of-towners. To be included in the data, Redfin says searchers must have viewed a minimum of 10 homes in the specific metro area and homes in that metro should make up at least 80% of a user’s searches. The most interest from these searchers are in Sacramento, Austin, and Phoenix.
Sacramento is the most popular destination for homebuyers looking to move to a different metro area, with more than half of Redfin.com users searching from another area and the biggest net inflow of Redfin.com users in July and August. A net inflow means more people are looking to move in than leave, while a net outflow means more people are looking to leave than move in.
Austin has moved into second place in terms of net inflow. Although Austin is typically on the top 10 list of most popular destinations, this is the first time it has broken into the top three since Redfin began tracking migration. Sacramento and Austin–like Phoenix, Las Vegas and Atlanta, which round out the top five–are affordable relative to coastal areas, with median home prices under $475,000 in August, compared with $1.5 million in San Francisco and $710,000 in Los Angeles. They’re all also inland areas with warm weather.
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