Where ‘Affordability Refugees’ Are Moving as High Prices Push Them Out

Squeezed by sky-high home prices, buyers in expensive and midtier metros alike are increasingly looking beyond the horizon of their local market in search of greater affordability or better job prospects.

Cross-market home searches on Realtor.com® topped 60% across the 100 largest U.S. metros this spring, up from roughly 48% in 2019, with housing affordability overwhelmingly dictating whether buyers stay or go, according to the Realtor.com economic research team.

However, the report highlights that affordability is relative, taking on different meanings depending on the local market and a buyer's budget.

"Affordability retains shoppers when present, pulls them in from pricier markets, and pushes them out once it's gone," explains Realtor.com senior economist Jiayi Xu.

Regionally, the West led in outbound home shopping traffic, which eclipsed 65% in the second quarter of 2026, followed by the South (59.8%), Northeast (58.3%), and Midwest (56.1%). 

In other words, more than half of home shopping traffic in every region of the U.S. went to listings outside the local market. 

Priciest market in the nation

At the metro level, San Jose, CA, recorded the highest out-of-market search traffic across the top 100 metros, with over 94% of shoppers based in San Jose looking for listings elsewhere in the second quarter.

A glance at San Jose's market helps explain this shift in demand: The metro holds the dubious distinction of being the most expensive major housing market in the U.S. with a median asking price exceeding $1.39 million in spring 2026.

"While San Jose's unemployment rate is below the national level, its median listing price sits 225.5% above the national average—an affordability gap steep enough to push shoppers elsewhere despite the strong labor market," notes Xu.  

For San Jose's out-of-market homebuyers, San Francisco emerged as the top destination. While the City by the Bay is no bargain by any stretch of the imagination, with median prices running a staggering 133% above the national average, it still sits 28% below San Jose's price tag.

San Jose was the top source of inbound traffic to San Francisco in the second quarter, driving roughly 40% of out-of-market views, according to Realtor.com data. Los Angeles was a distant second at 7%, followed by Seattle, in third at 4.3%. 

"San Francisco's AI-driven job boom appears strong enough to pull shoppers in from all three markets," says Xu, referring to the California metro's latest technological surge anchored by industry powerhouses like OpenAI and Anthropic.

Down the coast, economic uncertainty is creating a different dynamic.

Victor Currie, a real estate agent at Douglas Elliman Real Estate in Los Angeles, tells Realtor.com that many would-be local buyers are holding off on transactions altogether.

"Uncertainty brings fear of taking action, and because we’re bombarded with the kind of economic news that keeps people guessing, they are nervous about committing to a purchase that ties up their funds, or selling and giving up their pandemic-era interest rate," says Currie. "Even though there are more homes on the market now, and more buyers than sellers, those buyers still aren’t buying."

Budget-friendly options

Seattle originated the third-highest share of traffic to out-of-market homes this spring, at nearly 84%, trailing Washington, DC, where nearly 86% of shoppers searched for properties outside the local market. 

Destination choices reveal a pattern: For DC buyers, the top destination was budget-friendly Baltimore, where the median listing price is roughly 35% below the capital’s $588,332 price tag.

Meanwhile, Seattle’s shoppers targeted Portland, OR, where the typical home in the second quarter was priced 24% below Seattle’s $779,827 median. 

In L.A., just over 70% of prospective buyers searched for homes outside the metro, with Riverside, CA, capturing much of the interest thanks to its lower prices.

While homes viewed by L.A. shoppers within their own metro averaged $641 per square foot, that figure plunged to just $341 per square foot for views in Riverside.

Pressure on midtier markets

Xu points out that buyers' continued quest for greater affordability extends far beyond the priciest markets. 

By spring 2026, previously budget-friendly metros, including Salt Lake City, Denver, and Durham, NC, began producing their own cohorts of priced-out locals.

Over 70% of shoppers in each of these three metros searched for out-of-market homes in the second quarter, targeting neighboring areas where prices run 5% to 15% lower.

For Denver buyers, the top destination was Colorado Springs, CO. Salt Lake City shoppers perused listings in Ogden, UT, while Durham house hunters viewed properties in Raleigh, NC.

The economic pull

Notably, home prices alone do not dictate migration; employment plays an equally important role.

A case in point is Birmingham, AL, where the share of out-of-market traffic stood at roughly 72%. Birmingham's top destination was Nashville, TN, despite "Music City" carrying a median asking price 80% higher than Birmingham's market. 

According to Xu, what drew Birmingham buyers to the pricier metro was Nashville’s stronger job market, a lower unemployment rate of 3.2%, and no state income tax. 

Currie says that broader economic considerations heavily influence his L.A.-area clients deciding where to purchase their next property, with many looking outside California.

"They’re considering other states that offer economic benefits beyond just the housing prices," explains the agent. "I ran the numbers just the other day with a potential seller to see what he could buy in Nevada with the equity on his home here, even after he took the capital gains hit. He had been considering a move out to Palm Springs, but he was thinking that if he was going to deal with the desert heat, he might as well go all the way to Las Vegas and not have state income tax."

Similar dynamics could explain the shopping interests from Stockton, CA, to Sacramento, CA, and Virginia Beach, VA, to Richmond, VA, where the top destination markets have lower unemployment rates but higher home prices.