This California City Is Where Most Homebuyers Want to Move

The housing market is in a state of flux, but people are setting their sights on one place in particular: Sacramento. A recent report by Redfin found that California’s capital was the most searched for destination for homebuyers planning to move between October 2023 and December 2023.

Redfin’s migration analysis was developed from the search results of about two million Redfin.com users who looked at homes in more than 100 metro areas across the United States. The “inbound” data was calculated by adding the number of home searchers looking to relocate there, minus the number of searchers planning to leave. Sacramento’s score was 5,400, making it a standout among the other competitive metro areas rounding out the top five. Las Vegas tied with two Florida metros (Cape Coral and Sarasota) for the second position with a score of 4,100, followed by Orlando at 3,600. 

The same report shared details about the “outbound” metros, or spots where people are trying to move away from. In a similar way, the total was determined by taking the number of people hoping to leave and subtracting the number of searchers interested in moving there. Los Angeles was the “winner” here, with a net outflow score of 26,900. The other high-ranking metros were San Francisco (25,900), New York (24,900), Seattle (16,700), and Washington, DC (13,000).  

Compared to all other states, California was the place where most people considered leaving. More than 46,000 California residents searched for metros outside of the state. This also comes at a time when California home prices increased by 7.4 percent year-over-year in December, and the number of homes sold dropped by 6.1 percent.

The low housing inventory and high interest rates are making it difficult to become a homeowner these days. To help make yourself the best possible candidate for home ownership, check out the top tips and tricks from real estate experts.