More Potential Homebuyers Searching Outside of Their Metro Market

The search for affordable homeownership opportunities is forcing more people to search outside of the metro market where they reside, according to new data from Redfin.

 

The second quarter edition of the Redfin Migration Report determined that 21 percent of Redfin.com were mostly search for homes outside their metro, up from 20 percent in the first quarter. And while the majority of home searchers remain in their current metro, there is a significant migration of potential homebuyers within California, where the most common search patterns found buyers exiting the Bay Area and Los Angeles while heading to Sacramento and San Diego. Redfin noted several Rust Belt metros saw more than one-quarter of local homebuyers looking at homes outside their metro, with Chicago being the top destination, while metros in the South and the Sunbelt attracted interest from residents in several expensive coastal cities.

 

“The migration patterns in our report closely correlate to actual purchases made by Redfin home-buying customers within and across metros,” said Taylor Marr, a Redfin data scientist who conducted the underlying research. “Buyers who can’t afford a home in their current city are exploring what is available elsewhere. We are already seeing strong buyer demand and competition in mid-tier cities like Sacramento, Phoenix and Atlanta. As home searches evolve into purchase offers and home sales, we anticipate prices and competition will continue to grow in those markets.”

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