During last year’s fourth quarter, home searchers sought to leave high-tax coastal markets in favor of more-affordable cities, according to the latest migration report from Redfin.
According to Redfin, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Chicago posted the highest net outflows of home searchers during the fourth quarter.
Redfin said the fastest-growing metros during the fourth quarter were Phoenix, Las Vegas, Atlanta and Nashville.
“People leaving coastal hubs in search of affordability has been a consistent trend for the last five years,” Redfin Chief Economist Nela Richardson said in a release. “Late last year there was a twist. Many of the popular migration paths that we saw Redfin.com users exploring yielded tax benefits along with increased affordability.”
For the first time since Redfin started tracking migration data, Seattle had more home searchers looking to leave than to move to the area, Redfin said.
Redfin said it expects this migration pattern will intensify as tax reform becomes a reality and more people choose to relocate in search of a lower cost of living.
“Lower taxes and more affordable housing have historically drawn Californians away from the coast to places like Nevada and Arizona,” said Redfin agent Heidi Ludwig, based in Hermosa Beach, Calif. “The recent changes in tax law have been coming up in my conversations with prospective home sellers. Last year, several of my home-selling clients followed their employer, Toyota, to its new facility in Plano, Texas. I expect to see more people move in the same direction this year, but for different reasons including taxes and overall affordability.”