(NEXSTAR) – Homebuyers looking to offset house prices on the rise and mortgage rates close to 7% and are more willing than ever to buy outside of their city, according to a new study.
Real estate brokerage Redfin found that a near-record number of prospective buyers, 24.1%, looked to move from August to October.
As for the most searched cities, the Sunshine State dominated the top 10, despite the devastation forged by Hurricane Ian in late September. Miami landed in third overall, followed by Tampa in fifth, Cape Coral in seventh, North Port-Sarasota in eighth and Orlando in tenth.
red fin calculated the rating based on net inflow, or the number of people looking to move to a city minus the number trying to move.
Born out of necessity during the pandemic and now a valued work criterion for many, remote work continues to facilitate the movement of workers between cities and even states. A october report from the National Association of Realtors found that the two qualities that remote workers overwhelmingly valued above all others were year-round warm weather and, of course, high-speed internet.
The city of California ranks first
However, the main city of the nation was not in Florida, but in California. Sacramento saw the highest out-of-state net searches among Redfin’s approximately 2 million users.
Rounding out the top 10 are Las Vegas in second, San Diego in fourth, Phoenix in sixth and Dallas in ninth.
The top five cities in terms of net outflow were, in order, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC, and Boston.
Good news for homebuyers?
While the number of Redfin users looking to relocate is at near-record levels, home sales across the country are under pressure.
Amid high inflation and sky-high mortgage rates, pending home sales submerged 4.6% in October, according to the National Association of Realtors, making it the fifth straight month of decline.
“October was a tough month for homebuyers as they faced the highest mortgage rates in 20 years,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. “The West region, in particular, suffered from the combination of high interest rates and expensive home prices. Only the Midwest made a profit.”
The overwhelming trend identified by Redfin was to move away from the high sticker prices of San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago towards cities with lower sales prices, effectively increasing affordability and offsetting some hefty mortgage payments.
However, there may be some good news for homebuyers, according to Yun: “The next few months should see a return from buyers, as mortgage rates appear to have peaked and have been falling since mid-November.”