Phoenix Most Popular Moving Destination Despite Prices, Heat
Despite inflation, debt, and high housing costs, Americans are still hoping to move out of their states.
That’s the conclusion reached by Realtor.com analysts when they scoured their listing page views. In Q2, 60.3% of all page views from the top 100 metros went to homes outside of the metros where shoppers actually live. This is up both from Q1 and the same time last year.
Shoppers in the ultra-expensive West were the most likely to look for homes elsewhere, followed by the Northeast.
On a city-by-city basis, the usual suspects are topping the list of most popular destinations.
Phoenix took the number one spot despite having the highest average home price of the bunch and news-making 100+ degree temperatures.
Atlanta and Dallas, two popular Southern metros, made the top five, while Memphis, Tampa, and Charlotte appeared in the top ten.
But the heart of the report comes from Chicago taking second place, reflecting a growing trend of Midwestern and Northern cities attracting attention for affordability. These areas avoided the huge price spikes of the Southern and Western pandemic housing booms, making them attractive now to Americans battling high mortgage rates.
The inclusion of St. Louis in seventh place mirrors that thinking. It’s one of only a few major cities where houses under $200k are still plentiful, and therefore gaining steam.
Tampa’s low placement at number eight suggests the South may really be losing favor as America’s favorite moving destination. Florida has been the hotspot of choice for movers since the pandemic began, which resulted in some of the highest home price appreciation in the country and an incredible number of overvalued markets.
Add to that the cost of insurance, which has risen thanks to increasing climate catastrophes in the state, and Florida’s popularity may finally have peaked, analysts say.
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