Affordable Beach Communities See Strong In-Migration

Affordable coastal metro areas in Florida have become hot destinations for homebuyers, according to CoreLogic’s 2020’s Hottest Cities for Homebuyers report.

The top 15 cities for in-migration were: Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA, Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL, Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC-NC, Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL, Port St. Lucie, FL, Jacksonville, FL, San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX, Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, Stockton, CA, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL, Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton and Greeley, CO.

CoreLogic says that these metros offer more affordability because of lower costs-per-square-foot, lower property taxes and no state income taxes. Many of them also provide warmer, sunnier climates with strong outdoor lifestyle amenities.

As more homebuyers moved to places like Lakeland and Tampa, they moved away from large coastal areas like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The top 15 cities for out-migration were New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA, San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI, San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA, Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL, Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO, Salt Lake City, UT, Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA and Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI.

CoreLogic said that flexible work policies, low federal interest rates and increased need for financial savings drove people away from crowded, expensive metro areas.

“The pandemic created a perfect recipe for consistently employed Americans,” Archana Pradhan, CoreLogic’s principal economist, said in a prepared statement. “If it had been any other mix of events, for example, if low housing inventory was coupled with job inflexibility, we wouldn’t have had such a large group of homebuying consumers feeling empowered to make bold moves in their living situations.”

In 2020, most people relocated between April and December. With such a strong home sales market, home loan applications for purchases rose 11% in 2020 compared to 2019. An earlier CoreLogic survey revealed that bank loans (38%) and savings (81%) are the primary sources people use to purchase a home. Eighty-four percent of consumers said they had been able to save more income to buy a home due to the pandemic and stay-at-home orders, with nearly half saving 11% or more of their income.

While buyers may have saved more during the pandemic, the recent runup in home prices has made them pessimistic about affording a home.

Some 64% of would-be buyers expect finding the right home will be harder or not change much, up from 54% in the last quarter of 2020, the National Association of Home Builders found in its polling.

“This shift in buyers’ perceptions on inventory correctly reflects the scarcity of homes available on the market in the first half of 2021,” the home builders group asserted.