Faced with some of the steepest home prices in the U.S., Bay Area residents are searching for cheaper cities to settle down. So where is everybody in the Bay Area going? The top destination, both in-state and overall, is Sacramento, according to new data from real estate information site Redfin.
It says almost 20 percent of the Bay Area’s prospective home buyers are eyeing residences outside their region. The San Francisco Bay Area topped the list of places in the U.S. with the largest net outflow, followed by New York and Los Angeles. At the state level, California also came in No. 1 with the largest overall net outflow of residents.
The data suggests 22.4 percent of Bay Area Redfin users are searching for homes in California’s capital. The second-most-popular search is for pads in Seattle, with about 14 percent of Bay Area Redfin users looking at places in the northwestern tech hub.
Check out the interactive map below to see where Bay Area residents are migrating
“Fast-growing coastal cities may be generating the high-paying jobs, but they haven’t created enough budget-friendly housing to keep pace. The price of real estate and desire for homeownership is compelling many to uproot and seek housing in more affordable communities,” Nela Richardson, Redfin chief economist, said in a statement. “Even a Bay Area family with two solid incomes can struggle to afford a modest home. For many, the only path to homeownership is to pack up and move out.”
Los Angeles is the third most popular search for Bay Area residents looking to pack up, with 12.3 percent of them taking a peek at prices in SoCal. San Diego, Modesto and Salinas are also popular in-state searches.
Trendy out-of-state searches include Portland, Oregon; Austin, Texas; and Denver, Colorado.
It’s no wonder that home buyers are looking outside the region as real estate prices soar. Last month, the median price of existing single-family homes hit $1.13 million in Santa Clara County, up from $1.06 million a year earlier, according to data from the California Association of Realtors.
According to a March report from Redfin, around 63 percent of San Jose homes sold above list price in February, the highest share of “over asking” bidding in the U.S. San Francisco came in second on the list with 62 percent of its homes selling above list price, while Oakland came in No. 3 with 59.1 percent of the region’s homes selling for more than what was listed.
San Jose homes now stay an average of 21 days on the market, while San Francisco homes are on the market an average of 28 days. Oakland homes move very quickly, with an average of just 15 days on the market, per Redfin data.
Capital City Real Estate Magazine 