Phoenix Regains Top ‘Migration Destination’ in 1Q
Redfin, Seattle, reported 25 percent of its website home searchers looked to move to another metro area in the first quarter, up from 23 percent last year, tying its highest level on record.
The analysis of more than one million Redfin.com users who searched for homes across 87 metro areas from January through March said Phoenix was the top search destination. The volume of customers searching for new metro areas matched fourth quarter 2018 as the highest on record.
“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,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “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. As more workers move to these places, there is a chicken and egg phenomenon where more companies open offices, which attracts even more workers.”
The report said Phoenix re-took the top spot on the list of metro areas, outranking Sacramento. The net inflow for Phoenix hit 7,949, the highest level on record not only for Phoenix, but for any metro area to date since Redfin began reporting net migration data in early 2017. The share of homebuyers searching in the Phoenix metro area from other metro areas also hit a new high of 34.5 percent in the first quarter, surpassing the previous peak of 34.0 percent in the second quarter of 2018.
“It is pretty rare for me to meet a home-buying client who was born or raised in Phoenix or even elsewhere in Arizona,” said Phoenix area Redfin agent Heather Corley. “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.”
Corley noted the uptick in migration is beginning to drive more competition for homes in the Phoenix area. “The rise in out-of-state buyers is definitely driving prices up,” she said. “We’re seeing a lot more homes for sale that receive multiple offers, and many times we’re competing with all-cash buyers.”
Redfin said “usual suspects” metros–New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.,–topped the list of metros people looked to leave, posting the highest net outflows in the first quarter. In those metros, along with Chicago and Denver, total net outflow of users increased from the same period a year earlier.
