Two California cities top list of metro areas homebuyers are leaving

By Sharon Song
Published  December 13, 2022 4:01pm EST
KTVU FOX 2

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JULY 14: A sign is posted in front of a home for sale on July 14, 2022 in San Francisco, California. The number of homes for sale in the U.S. increased by 2 percent in June for the first time since 2019. High interest rate …

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SAN FRANCISCO - A new report has listed San Francisco and Los Angeles as the two top U.S. cities in which homebuyers were looking to leave. 

The analysis, by real estate company Redfin, found people were opting to leave expensive coastal areas and seeking homes in more affordable regions, as part of an ongoing trend that gathered steam during the pandemic, as remote work became commonplace and as home prices rose. 

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The report said that almost a quarter of U.S. homebuyers in metro areas sought to leave their city in the three months ending in October.

"That’s up from roughly 18% in 2019, before the pandemic ushered in the remote-work era that gave many Americans more flexibility to relocate," the study said.

The report looked at what it called "net inflow" and "net outflow." Inflow was calculated by taking the number of Redfin.com home searchers looking to move into a metro area, minus the number of searchers looking to leave. 

Outflow was calculated by the number of users seeking to leave a metro area, minus the number of searchers looking to move in.

San Francisco had the biggest net outflow of 35,800, with 24% of the area's prospective homebuyers seeking to live elsewhere.   

And San Francisco's loss appeared to be a gain for Sacramento, as California's capital city was the number one in-state destination for those looking to leave the City by the Bay. 

The real estate group noted that homes in the Sacramento metro area cost less than half of those in the Bay Area. 

Sacramento was not only the most popular destination for those looking to leave San Francisco, it topped the list as the overall most popular destination for U.S. homebuyers looking to relocate. 

Los Angeles had the second-largest net outflow of 34,100, with 20% of local users looking to leave the area. 

Los Angeles city skyline. LA was #2 in Redfin's list of top metro areas homebuyers were leaving. 

The top in-state destination for those wanting to leave LA was San Diego. 

Out of state, it was Las Vegas, where the typical home cost $410,000 in October, roughly half the price of the typical home in Los Angeles.

Top 10 Metros Homebuyers Are Leaving, by Net Outflow

  1. San Francisco
  2. Los Angeles
  3. New York
  4. Washington, D.C.
  5. Boston
  6. Chicago
  7. Detroit
  8. Denver
  9. Seattle
  10. Philadelphia

Top 10 Metros Homebuyers Are Moving Into, by Net Inflow 

  1. Sacramento
  2. Las Vegas
  3. Miami
  4. San Diego
  5. Tampa, FL
  6. Phoenix, AZ
  7. Cape Coral, FL
  8. North Port-Sarasota, FL
  9. Dallas
  10. Orlando, FL

Source: Redfin