Bend, Boise and Charleston Are Attracting Twice as Many Out-of-Town Homebuyers as Last Year Amid Pandemic-Fueled Migration

Rhea-AI Summary

In January 2021, 30.7% of Redfin.com users sought to move to a different metro, a significant increase from 25.9% in January 2020. This trend marks the highest migration share since tracking began in 2017. Key cities like Bend, Boise, and Charleston saw a twofold increase in new homebuyers, driven by residents leaving high-cost areas. For instance, Bend recorded a net inflow of 1,591 users, while Boise had 1,058. The data reflects a growing preference for affordable locations amid rising home prices in coastal cities, highlighting a shift in housing dynamics.

Positive

• 30.7% of users looking to relocate is the highest level since tracking began in 2017.
• Bend, Boise, and Charleston saw net inflows of new homebuyers, indicating growing demand.
• Bend's net inflow increased to 1,591 users from 755 year-over-year.
• Boise's net inflow rose to 1,058 users from 465 year-over-year.
• Charleston's net inflow more than tripled to 1,014 users from 338 year-over-year.

Negative

• Local wages in popular relocation areas like Boise have not kept pace with rising home prices, making affordability an issue.

SEATTLE, Feb. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- (NASDAQ: RDFN) — Nationwide, 30.7% of Redfin.com users looked to move to a different metro in January, according to a new report from Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. That's up from 25.9% during the same time period last year and the highest share since Redfin started tracking migration in 2017. The increase is driven by buyers leaving pricey coastal areas like the Bay Area and Los Angeles in favor of relatively affordable places like Boise, ID and Bend, OR.  

The latest migration analysis is based on a sample of more than 2 million Redfin.com users who searched for homes across 87 metro areas in January, 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.

The number of homebuyers looking to move to Bend, Boise and Charleston has more than doubled over the last year 

Bend had a net inflow of roughly 1,600 Redfin.com users in January, up from 750 in January 2020, before the onset of the pandemic. A net inflow is a measure of how many more Redfin.com home searchers looked to move into a metro than leave out of a sample of 2 million Redfin users. 

Bend is one of 17 metros where net inflow has more than doubled over the last year. Another example is Boise, which had a net inflow of roughly 1,100 Redfin.com users in January, up from 500 the year before. And Charleston had a net inflow of about 1,000, up from 300. Compared to major cities like New York and Los Angeles, those are all relatively affordable areas that offer a slower pace of life and plenty of natural beauty.

"Boise has been hot with out-of-towners for the last several years, but the pandemic has pushed people who were on the brink to move here as quickly as possible," said local Redfin agent Kristin Lopez. "Almost all my buyers are people from California, Washington, Oregon, Texas and Arizona who can work remotely and have kids in online school. There's an interesting dynamic right now because Boise is still less expensive than places like Seattle or Los Angeles, but migration has caused prices to skyrocket and supply to shrink. Some buyers have been searching for six months and now suddenly they're priced out." 

"It makes it hard for locals to buy a home," Lopez continued. "Local wages haven't caught up with the appreciation of home prices. And as long as interest rates stay low, I don't foresee the market slowing down anytime in at least the next year." 

Portland, OR, Seattle and the Bay Area were the top origins for homebuyers moving into Bend from out of town, and Los Angeles, the Bay Area and Seattle were the top origins for those moving to Boise. New York, Washington, D.C. and Chicago were the top origins for people relocating to Charleston. Although Bend, Boise and Charleston aren't necessarily inexpensive—the median home-sale price in January was $509,000 in Bend, $420,000 in Boise and $330,000 in Charleston—they are more affordable than the places people are moving from. For instance, the typical home sold for $1.34 million in the San Francisco metro in January, and $725,000 in Los Angeles. 

Metros with at least a 100% year-over-year increase in Redfin.com users looking to move in, January 2020 to January 2021
Metro area	Net inflow of Redfin.com users (January 2021)	Net inflow of Redfin.com users (January 2020)	Top three origins (January 2021)
Austin, TX	7,946	2816	Bay Area, Houston, Los Angeles
Bakersfield, CA	1,139	407	Los Angeles, Bay Area, Tampa
Bend, OR	1,591	755	Portland, OR, Bay Area, Seattle
Boise, ID	1,058	465	Los Angeles, Bay Area, Seattle
Cape Coral, FL	3,744	1370	Chicago, Miami, New York
Charleston, SC	1,014	338	New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago
Dallas, TX	6,215	2499	Los Angeles, Bay Area, Seattle
Honolulu, HI	1,409	634	Los Angeles, Bay Area, Seattle
Houston, TX	1,854	54	Los Angeles, Bay Area, New York
Miami, FL	4,963	1742	New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago
North Port, FL	2,522	1060	Chicago, Tampa, New York
Orlando, FL	3,175	1266	Miami, New York, Tampa
Philadelphia, PA	1,277	600	New York, Washington, D.C., Allentown, PA
Portland, ME	1,405	642	Boston, New York, Washington, D.C.
Salisbury, MD	1,100	201	Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York
San Antonio, TX	2,198	977	Houston, Los Angeles, Austin
Tampa, FL	4,036	1869	Orlando, New York, Washington, D.C.
*Combined statistical areas with at least 500 users in January 2021 †Negative values indicate a net outflow; among the one million users sampled for this analysis only

Austin, Phoenix and Las Vegas are attracting more out-of-town homebuyers than any other metro

Austin had a bigger net inflow of residents than any other major metro in January. It's followed by Phoenix, Las Vegas, Dallas and Atlanta. Relatively affordable inland areas like those five are typically the most popular destinations for people relocating. 

The share of home searches from out-of-towners as opposed to locals also increased from last January in nine of the 10 most popular destinations (Atlanta is the exception). Nearly 45% of searches for homes in Austin were from out of town, up from 32.6% a year earlier. 

Top 10 Metros by Net Inflow of Users and Their Top Origins (January 2021)
Rank	Metro*	Net Inflow (January 2021)†	Net Inflow (January 2020)	Portion of Searches from Users Outside the Metro (January 2021)	Portion of Searches from Users Outside the Metro (January 2020)	Top Origin	Top Out-of-State Origin
1	Austin, TX	7,946	2,816	44.9%	32.6%	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
2	Phoenix, AZ	7,394	5,109	38.9%	35.9%	Los Angeles, CA	Los Angeles, CA
3	Las Vegas, NV	6,702	4,045	53.4%	49.3%	Los Angeles, CA	Los Angeles, CA
4	Dallas, TX	6,215	2,499	34.0%	27.0%	Los Angeles, CA	Los Angeles, CA
5	Atlanta, GA	5,509	3,674	26.8%	27.3%	New York, NY	New York, NY
6	Sacramento, CA	5,506	3,645	48.6%	44.9%	San Francisco, CA	Reno, NV
7	Miami, FL	4,963	1,742	31.4%	26.8%	New York, NY	New York, NY
8	Tampa, FL	4,036	1,869	59.1%	55.9%	Orlando, FL	New York, NY
9	Cape Coral, FL	3,744	1,370	76.9%	75.3%	Chicago, IL	Chicago, IL
10	Nashville, TN	3,259	2,100	40.3%	36.9%	New York, NY	New York, NY
*Combined statistical areas with at least 500 users in January 2021 †Negative values indicate a net outflow; among the one million users sampled for this analysis only

San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles are losing more residents than any other metro

San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Seattle topped the list of metros with the biggest net outflow in January. A net outflow means more people are looking to leave than move in. 

Net outflow increased from last year in all 10 of the top places people are leaving. Plus, the share of locals searching for homes in other metros as opposed to their home metro increased from last January in nine of the 10 metros people are leaving. The portion of Redfin.com users in New York looking to move away has declined slightly since last year, but that's likely because a lot of New Yorkers searching for homes elsewhere have already left the metro, so their search origins reflect their current location.

Top 10 Metros by Net Outflow of Users and Their Top Destinations (January 2021)
Rank	Metro*	Net Outflow (January 2021)†	Net Outflow (January 2020)	Portion of Local Users Searching Elsewhere (January 2021)	Portion of Local Users Searching Elsewhere (January 2020)	Top Destination	Top Out-of-State Destination
1	San Francisco, CA	28,386	18,451	24.7%	22.6%	Sacramento, CA	Austin, TX
2	New York, NY	26,528	17,197	33.5%	34.8%	Philadelphia, PA	Philadelphia, PA
3	Los Angeles, CA	17,674	9,794	18.4%	16.5%	San Diego, CA	Las Vegas, NV
4	Washington, DC	10,051	4,915	14.3%	11.6%	Salisbury, MD	Salisbury, MD
5	Seattle, WA	6,010	2,088	16.3%	13.2%	Los Angeles, CA	Los Angeles, CA
6	Chicago, IL	5,903	3,230	13.2%	10.6%	Cape Coral, FL	Cape Coral, FL
7	Denver, CO	4,480	2,099	29.8%	23.8%	Seattle, WA	Seattle, WA
8	Boston, MA	2,414	852	14.4%	11.6%	Portland, ME	Portland, ME
9	Milwaukee, WI	1,489	612	42.0%	37.6%	Chicago, IL	Chicago, IL
10	Indianapolis, IN	1,378	442	43.4%	35.1%	Chicago, IL	Chicago, IL
*Combined statistical areas with at least 500 users in January 2021 †Among the one million users sampled for this analysis only

To read the full report, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/news/january-2021-housing-migration-trends 

About Redfin 
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered residential real estate company, redefining real estate in the consumer's favor in a commission-driven industry. We do this by integrating every step of the home buying and selling process and pairing our own agents with our own technology, creating a service that is faster, better and costs less. We offer brokerage, iBuying, mortgage, and title services, and we also run the country's #1 nationwide brokerage website, offering a host of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate. We represent people buying and selling homes in over 95 markets in the United States and Canada. Since our launch in 2006, we have saved our customers nearly $1 billion and we've helped them buy or sell more than 310,000 homes worth more than $152 billion.

For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center. To be added to Redfin's press release distribution list, email press@redfin.com. To view Redfin's press center, click here.

 

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SOURCE Redfin

FAQ

What percentage of Redfin users wanted to move to a different metro area in January 2021?

30.7% of Redfin.com users sought to move to a different metro in January 2021.

Which cities saw the highest net inflow of homebuyers in January 2021?

Bend, Boise, and Charleston saw significant net inflows of homebuyers in January 2021.

How much did Bend's net inflow of homebuyers increase from January 2020 to January 2021?

Bend's net inflow increased from 755 users in January 2020 to 1,591 users in January 2021.

What are the top origins for homebuyers moving into Boise?

Top origins for homebuyers moving to Boise include Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and Seattle.

What challenges do local residents in Boise face regarding home buying?

Local residents in Boise face challenges as wages haven't caught up with the appreciation of home prices.