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M R EP O RT | 39 O R I G I NAT I O N S E R V I C I N G DATA G O V E R N M E N T S E C O N DA R Y M A R K E T THE LATEST ORIGINATION Homebuyer Relocation Nears Pandemic Peak Data shows consumers continuing to flock toward relatively affordable cities with warmer weather, including Miami, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. A ccording to a new report from Redfin, some 31.2% of their us- ers nationwide looked to move to a different metro in Q 4 of 2021. That number is down from the record-high of 31.5% set in Q1 of last year, but still up significantly from pre-pandemic levels, with 26.3% of Redfin users also looking to relocate in Q 4 of 2019. Homebuyer interest in relocat- ing to a new part of the country rose with the onset of the pan- demic and has remained elevated for nearly two years. Partly due to low mortgage rates and the surge in remote work, allow- ing consumers to choose where they live based on factors such as affordability and weather rather, than proximity to an office. The latest migration analysis is based on a sample of about 2 mil- lion Redfin users who searched for homes across 111 metro areas in Q 4, excluding searches unlikely to precede an actual relocation or home purchase. To be included in this dataset, Redfin users must have viewed at least 10 homes in a particular metro area, and homes in that area must have made up at least 80% of the user's searches. Miami, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Sacramento, and Tampa were among the most popular migra- tion destinations of all major U.S. metros in Q 4. Popularity by city is determined by net inflow, a measure of how many more Redfin house hunters sought to move into a metro rather than leave. Cities with warm weather and affordable metro areas are typi- cally the most popular places for people who are relocating. Sunbelt metros like Phoenix and Las Vegas usually remain near the top of the list, and this is the second quarter in a row that Miami has taken the number-one spot. Major metropolitan job centers tend to top the list of places consumers are looking to leave, as remote work becomes more solidified and preferred for many workers. Homebuyers tend to move from expensive areas to more affordable places. New York, where the median sale price is around $640,000, was the number one origin for people moving to Miami, as median sale prices aver- age around $440,000. Los Angeles sale prices remain near $835,000, and is shown as the top origin for people moving to both Phoenix for home prices around $435,000, and Las Vegas, where the median is approximately $339,000. Research found Americans are leaving large, expensive cities like: San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., and Seattle. These are the top metros homebuyers looked to leave in Q 4, according to net outflow and a measure of how many more Americans looked to leave a metro area than move in.