In the beginning of 2019, the number of Americans expressing interest in relocating to a new housing market ticked up, according to Redfin’s Migration Report.
The report utilized data from the company’s website, gathering information from more than 1 million users who searched for homes across 87 metros, from January through March.
According to the company’s analysis, 25% of home searchers looked to move to another metro in the first quarter of 2019.
Although this percentage is only slightly higher than 23% in Q1 of 2018, it now sits at the highest recorded level in the report's history.
“People are feeling more confident about the economy and now feel financially secure enough to make a cross-country move to a metro where their money will go further,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said. “Homeownership may be out of reach for current residents of San Francisco or New York, but there are plenty of affordable homes and lower taxes in places like Phoenix, Atlanta and Austin.”
In fact, Redfin’s report revealed that Phoenix, which experienced a net inflow of 7,949 homeowners in Q1, was named this quarter’s top migration destination. Additionally, Phoenix’s net inflow growth now holds the highest migration reading since Redfin began tracking data in 2017.
“It is pretty rare for me to meet a home-buying client who was born or raised in Phoenix or even elsewhere in Arizona,” Redfin Agent Heather Corley said. “So many people are coming here from expensive cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle for our low cost of living and great weather. The trend is really increasing lately thanks to strong job growth and companies such as Allstate, Intel, Boeing, Microsoft and Facebook moving to the area.”
The image below shows Phoenix’s net inflow growth year over year.
NOTE: Redfin's sample-sized users must have viewed at least 10 listings during the quarter. In order to calculate net inflow and outflow, Redfin took the number of users looking to leave the metro area and subtracted the number of users looking to move to the metro area from another metro area.
