Based on the search history of more than 1 million Redfin.com users, 27% of those searching for a home are looking to relocate to a different metro area. Redfin also reported that small town living interest has skyrocketed, with searches for towns populated by less than 50,000 going up 87% year over year. Comparing that growth with the 22% year over year search increase for homes in densely populated areas shows where home buyer's priorities are at. Residents of New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles seem to want out the most. See what other cities made the list.
A record 27.0% of home searchers looked to move to another metro area in April and May 2020, a new high in the share of Redfin.com users searching for homes outside their area. It’s up from 25.2% in the second quarter of 2019 and 26.0% in the first quarter of this year.
The latest migration analysis is based on a sample of more than 1 million Redfin.com users who searched for homes across 87 metro areas in April and May, excluding searches unlikely to precede an actual relocation or home purchase. To be included in this dataset, a Redfin.com user must have viewed at least 10 homes in a particular metro area, and homes in that area must make up at least 80% of the user’s searches.
