Migration Hits All-Time High in the U.S.’s Shifting Housing Market

Migration in the U.S. is at an all-time high as buyers look for more affordability among rate hikes and economic uncertainty.  

Last month, 33.7% of Redfin.com users were searching in another metro area, according to a report Thursday from the property portal. That’s the most since at least 2017—when Redfin started tracking the information—and up from 32.6% in the second quarter and about 26% before the pandemic. 

The analysis looked at 2 million users looking for residences in more than 100 metro areas. Users must have viewed at least 10 homes in the area to be included in the dataset, with properties there making up at least 80% of the user’s searches. 

Migration has been on the rise during the pandemic, with remote work allowing many people to relocate without changing their employment situation. Cities like Miami and Phoenix have been main beneficiaries of that trend, but movement to those areas is slowing because of elevated home prices, the report said. 

Miami remained the most popular migration designation in July, but not as many people looked to move there as did at the same time last year, the data showed. In addition, Phoenix fell to No. 6 last month as out-of-town homebuyers dwindled. 

“That’s partly because Phoenix home prices rose so much during the pandemic, increasing 20% year over year to $485,000 in June, well above the national median of $428,000,” the report said. A destination’s popularity is measured by net inflow, or how many more people looked to move into an area than leave. 

More affordable areas like San Diego (No. 3) and Portland, Maine, (No. 9) are seeing more interest, the report said. Large, coastal cities with a high cost of living had the biggest net outflows, with San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York registering the largest number of people looking to move. 

Meanwhile, the “real estate refresh” has started to falter and homes are taking longer to sell, according to a separate report Thursday from Realtor.com.

New listings dropped 8% annually for the week ending Saturday, the fifth consecutive week, the figures showed. At the same time, the number of active listings was up 28% year over year, a slip from 30% the previous week. 

“If sellers hesitate to wade into the market amid a declining sense that now is a good time to sell, that could slow the housing refresh, and it may take longer for balance to return,” Danielle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief economist, said in the report.

Homes are also spending three extra days on the market than they did in July 2021, the data showed. 

“After last week’s first year-over-year increase in time on market in over two years, the gap grew larger this week,” Ms. Hale continued. “We expect more slowing ahead as the housing market resets as both buyers and sellers adjust to higher mortgage rates.”

Mansion Global is owned by Dow Jones. Both Dow Jones and Realtor.com are owned by News Corp.