The lack of affordable housing in Los Angeles has more Angelenos looking to relocate, according to a new analysis from the home shopping website, Redfin. LA had the second-highest number of homebuyers seeking to leave in the third quarter, the site found. Las Vegas, San Diego, Phoenix and Dallas were their top destinations.
In September, the median listing home price in Los Angeles was $1 million — a 5.4% increase compared with a year earlier, according to Realtor.com. While home prices grew at even faster rates in the top cities Angelenos considered, their median list prices were far lower: $450,000 for Las Vegas, $900,000 for San Diego, $470,000 for Phoenix and $468,000 for Dallas.
“With a recession looming and household expenses high, many people can’t afford to buy a home in an expensive area and/or want to save money in case of an emergency, which makes relocating somewhere more affordable an attractive option,” Redfin Economics Research Lead Chen Zhao said in a statement accompanying the report.
“Migration will likely slow in the coming months because the softening labor market and job losses will push more people to stay put or move in with family, though some may need to relocate for new employment opportunities. Plus, many remote workers who wanted to relocate already have.”
Redfin cited “surging mortgage rates and persistently high home prices” for homebuyers’ interest in moving from one metro to another. For its analysis, the site crunched the numbers on two million users who viewed for-sale homes online in more than 100 metro areas.
Looking at how many more of its visitors sought to leave an area than move in, it found that 20% of LA Redfin users were searching outside the metro area, with San Diego being the top in-state location and Las Vegas being the top out-of-state destination.
San Francisco had the highest number of homebuyers seeking to leave in the third quarter, with Sacramento being the top in-state destination and Seattle being the top out-of-state location. New York ranked third, with Miami being the top destination for relocations.
To determine the share of homebuyers seeking to relocate, Redfin analyzed which of its users were so-called migrants, viewing at least 10 for-sale homes in the third quarter, of which one was outside their metro area. From July to September, 24.2% of homebuyers nationally looked at homes in a different metro area — a record high for the site.