Another city is sending residents Sacramento’s way (Spoiler: It’s not just San Francisco)
Maybe it’s the weather. Or the fact that Sacramento has a reputation for being the closest thing you’ll find to a Midwestern city on the West Coast.
Either way, the capital region was once again the top destination for people searching for new homes outside their own city on Redfin over the past three months. And the top origin for those living outside of California was Chicago, the online real estate firm reported this week.
Sacramento was tops in the nation for net inflow, defined by Redfin as “the number of people looking to move into a metro minus the number of people looking to leave.” The region was followed by Las Vegas, Miami and San Diego.
The top origin city for Redfin users interested in moving here was San Francisco, as it has been for months. Seattle had been the top out-of-state origin throughout much of the pandemic, but was recently replaced by Chicago.
San Francisco is still at the top of Redfin’s list for cities where residents are looking to leave. It’s followed by other expensive coastal cities such as Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C.
The median home sale price in Chicago is just $328,000, compared to the Sacramento region median of around $550,000. But as autumn turns to winter, perhaps residents of Chicago are searching for warmer environments. Chicago had the sixth-highest net outflow of residents looking to leave their home cities, according to Redfin.
According to Redfin’s data, 24% of those searching for a new home nationally are looking to relocate cities, primarily due to pandemic-era housing cost increases and more flexible work arrangements that have allowed many employees to work remotely.
