Out-of-Towners Spiking Nashville, Atlanta, Miami Home Prices

In most cities, out-of-towners are coming to town with more to spend on housing than the locals—about 30 percent more.

For example, the average out-of-towner moving to Nashville in 2021 had $736,900 to spend on a home, 28.5% higher than the $573,400 average budget for local buyers, according to a new report from real estate brokerage Redfin.

This gives Music City the biggest budget gap among the cities included in its analysis; relocators have bigger budgets than locals in 42 of the 49 cities included in the report.

Next comes Philadelphia, with an average out-of-town budget of $559,200—28.4% higher than the average local budget. It’s followed by New York City, where the average out-of-towner had a 26.5% higher budget than the average local, and Atlanta, where migrants had a 26.1% bigger budget.

Miami rounds out the top five, with an average out-of-town budget 25.1% higher than that of locals. Out-of-towners have higher budgets than locals in 42 of the 49 cities included in Redfin’s report.

Pricing Out the Locals

Many American home buyers were able to widen their searches in 2021 as many employers made remote-work options permanent. Remote workers are now able to move somewhere more affordable than their hometown. So, out-of-towners frequently have bigger budgets than locals. 

Hope Geyer, a Redfin agent in Nashville, where there’s no state income tax, said that people moving from the West Coast “will pay way over asking price without batting an eye. It’s really hard for locals to compete right now.”

Out-of-town buyers are also more likely to have sold a home in a more expensive city.

For instance, the typical home in Los Angeles—the most common origin of people moving to Nashville—sold for $950,000 in December, versus $411,000 in Nashville. 

The typical home in New York City—the most common origin of people moving to Atlanta and Miami—sold for $785,000, versus $385,000 in Atlanta and $459,000 in Miami.

The influx of out-of-towners with big budgets is contributing to the rise in home prices in popular migration destinations, pricing out many locals. Nashville home prices remain lower than many expensive coastal cities, but were up 22.6% in December from the year before. So, while Nashville may be a good deal for someone coming from Los Angeles, many locals are stuck renting.

Where Locals Rule 

Locals had higher budgets than out-of-towners in seven of the 50 cities in this analysis, most of which are in California: Four Bay Area cities (Fremont, Pleasanton, San Jose and San Francisco) and Riverside, plus Baltimore and Frisco, Texas.

The average budget for Fremont locals was $1,560,600, about 6% higher than the average budget for out-of-towners. That’s a bigger premium than any other city in this analysis. It’s followed by Pleasanton, where locals had an average budget of $1,752,400, roughly 5% higher than the average migrant budget.

Bay Area locals tend to have bigger budgets than people moving in from out of town because they have some of the highest incomes in the country.