Former pandemic boomtowns like Charlotte and Austin have now become cities homebuyers are fleeing from.
Homebuyers are increasingly leaving bustling metropolises like Los Angeles and New York and moving to places that offer more affordable housing and a cheaper cost of living, according to new data by Redfin.
While there was a sharp slowdown of this trend after the end of the pandemic, when employers called their staff back to the office, this phenomenon has been taking place for years, as Americans struggling with higher costs look for affordability out of some of the most expensive markets in the country. What is more surprising is that Americans are now also leaving places that do not fit into this big-city job centers category, markets they were flocking to during the pandemic home-buying frenzy: Charlotte, North Carolina, and Austin, Texas. More than 20,000 people looked to move from the Bay Area to Austin in 2021, according to Redfin, while just 2,900 looked to move last year. The same drop happened in the former pandemic boomtowns of Charlotte and Raleigh, where half as many home searchers looked to move from the Bay Area in 2025 as in 2021. Those looking to relocate out of these ex-pandemic darlings are often leaving for one of two reasons: a cheaperRedfin analysis was based on homebuyers’ and renters’ searches for homes on Redfin.com in the last quarter of 2025. It found that Los Angeles was the number one metropolitan area in the U.S. that homebuyers were leaving, with a net outflow of residents of -25,908. Their top destination within California was San Diego, while the most-coveted out-of-state destination was Las Vegas. New York City followed with a net outflow of -23,080, with homebuyers looking to relocate the most in Philadelphia. Next was California’s San Jose-San Francisco, which faced a net outflow of -21,230. Homebuyers in the Bay Area were often looking to relocate to Sacramento and Seattle, according to Redfin.that homebuyers are leaving, with a net outflow of -19,154. Residents wishing to buy a home were leaving for Portland. Chicago followed with a net outflow of -13,128, with homebuyers leaving for Milwaukee.Florida, which has seen domestic migration slow down after the end of the pandemic, still dominates a list of the top 10 most popular destinations for homebuyers in the country. Four metros in the Sunshine State were third, fourth, fifth, and sixth for net inflow of home searchers—Cape Coral-Fort Myers , North Port-Sarasota , Miami and Orlando . Other popular destinations were Sacramento, California and Las Vegas , which benefited from the droves of Californians and Bay Area residents looking for more affordableHome searchers relocating to Florida came from a good range of big-job city centers. The top origin of homebuyers in Cape Coral-Fort Myers and North Port-Sarasota came from Chicago. Home searchers in Miami came predominantly from New York, while homebuyers in Orlando came from Miami, domestically, and New York when originally out of state. All of these destinations, according to Redfin, are relatively affordable—especially when compared to the places the newcomers are moving from. Many also offer additional perks, as is the case of the Florida metros: warm, sunny weather, and generally lower taxes.
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