The exodus of California homebuyers who have been overwhelmed by the state’s persistent affordability crisis has started to strain outside markets as well.
Housing costs and high taxes continue to make more Californians flee the state for cheaper options in places like Idaho, Arizona and Nevada, Bloomberg reported. Almost 143,000 more people left the state than arrived from elsewhere in the U.S. in 2016.
But now home prices in popular relocation destinations for Californians are spiking as well.
The median price of a single-family home in Boise, for example, jumped 18 percent to $299,950 last month compared to last year. About 29 percent of Boise’s home-listing views are from Californians, according to Realtor.com.
Californians accounted for 85 percent of net domestic immigration to Idaho, according to Realtor.com’s analysis of 2016 Census data.
Similarly in Nevada, home prices jumped 13 percent in August, and Californians made up the largest share of new arrivals.
The newly surging home prices being fueled by the influx of Californians have started testing residents’ patience.They are worried their new neighbors are bringing the affordability problem with them, according to Danielle Hale, chief economist for Realtor.com.
In the second quarter, just 26 percent of California homebuyers could afford to purchase a median-priced, single-family home, at nearly $600,000, according to the California Association of Realtors. [Bloomberg] – Gregory Cornfield