In an article from the Dallas Business Journal, accelerated trends that were already occurring in the North Texas housing market were accelerated by the pandemic, including a surge in relocations from California and other states — and this trend will continue in 2021. So “Go to Texas, Son (or daughter)!” It’s become a reverse migration from California; the great California migration.
From professional sports to nightlife and restaurants, there are plenty of things to keep residents entertained in North Texas. Californians are flocking to Texas for this greater quality of life and can enjoy the quality of life because they are paying less for a home.
Housing expenses in Dallas are more than cut in half compared with San Francisco and other cities in California, and employees spend less time in their cars to get to their jobs. The lack of income tax and the ability to start saving money are some of the key contributing factors to the Great California Migration.
For comparison, the typical home value in San Francisco is $1.38 million and the average apartment rent is more than $3,000 a month, according to data from Zillow and RentCafe.com. In Dallas, the typical home value is closer to $237,000 and monthly rent is roughly $1,164 across the Metroplex, according to ApartmentData.com
The housing affordability crisis in California is the main reason that the Golden State’s population has actually started to shrink, said Wendell Cox, principal of St. Louis-based international public policy firm Demographia. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 population estimates, Texas added the most residents of any state last year, while California’s population lost an estimated 69,532 residents — the first negative population change for the West Coast state since at least 1900, the earliest available data.
Cox said California’s rising housing prices mean many people who work in the Bay Area live in communities an hour or more away, where housing still costs 1.5 times as much as in Austin, and twice as much as in Dallas or Houston. Just to be able to qualify for a typical loan on a house in San Jose, that household would have to be well into the top 20 percent of income earners, Cox said.
Homes, particularly expensive ones, keep selling in North Texas. The volume of closed sales of homes in North Texas rose 9.1 percent last year and the average sales price rose 7 percent to $331,000, said Chris Kelly, president and CEO of the Ebby Halliday Companies. At the luxury level, closed sales of properties for over $12 million in DFW rose 27.7 percent last year, and the average price of luxury homes climbed 3.5 percent to $1.7 million.
We are continuing to grow outwards, and into the “exburbs” and suburbs of the Dallas Fort Worth Metro Plex. According to the Texas Realtors Association’s 2020 report, more than 86,000 Californians moved to Texas last year, an increase of 36 percent over the prior year. Continuing the Great California Migration.
Beth Brake REALTOR®
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