Redfin: More homebuyers straying away from coastal cities

Homeowners continue to flee pricey cities for more affordable metros, with Phoenix, Sacramento, Atlanta and Las Vegas among the destinations that are searched the most online, according to data from Redfin.

In the second quarter of 2019, 25% of Redfin users searching for homes were looking to move to another city, up 1% from the previous year.

Phoenix had the most amount of inflow, meaning more people were looking to move into the town rather than out. In Q2, 8,208 site users looked for a home in Phoenix, with 33.7% of those living in another city, mostly in Los Angeles.

The median home price in Phoenix was $280,000 and the share of searches focused on that area was 66.3%, Redfin revealed.

“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.”

Conversely, New York is ranked first among cities users are looking to move out of, with most looking at homes in Boston.

And, even though mortgage rates are trending downward, homebuyers are still steering away from coastal cities where taxes and home prices make living more expensive.

“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.”

Here are the top 10 search destinations on redfin.com from users living in other cities:

1. Phoenix, Arizona

2. Sacramento, California

3. Atlanta, Georgia

4. Las Vegas, Nevada

5. Austin, Texas

6. Tampa, Florida

7. Dallas, Texas

8. Miami, Florida

9. Boston, Massachusetts

10. San Diego, California

Here are the top 10 cities that Redfin home seekers are looking to leave: 

1. New York, New York

2. San Francisco, California

3. Los Angeles, California

4. Washington, D.C.

5. Chicago, Illinois

6. Denver, Colorado

7. Hartford, Connecticut 

8. Milwaukee, Wisconsin

9. Houston, Texas

10. Detroit, Michigan