Hot Hot Market
Only one housing market is more popular than Austin right now
With more than 100 people moving to the city every day, it should come as no surprise that Austin's one of the hottest searches on real estate websites.
A survey from Zillow says people looking for homes outside their current area search for Austin properties more than any other city in the United States — except San Francisco. Most of those views are coming from other cities in Texas, including Dallas, Houston, Waco, and San Antonio, as well as other smaller cities like San Angelo, Harlingen, Beaumont, and Odessa.
Search patterns for people wanting to move to Austin very closely mirror those seen in San Francisco, which gets more page views on Zillow from afar than 92 percent of other markets. A home in Austin gets more page views from outside searches than 86 percent of other markets.
On the flip side, many people who live in Austin and San Francisco are looking at homes outside of their respective cities. Zillow says over half of Austin-based views are of homes outside the area; in San Francisco, the figure is similar. There are multiple reasons people may want to relocate, but cost of living is among the most prevalent, according to Zillow executives. And, notes the real estate website, Austin home value growth increased 9 percent over the past year, even outpacing San Francisco.
"If someone lives in an expensive area, they may look for another place to live that is less expensive but offers a similar quality of life," said Zillow chief economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. "Home shoppers in less expensive markets may weigh sacrificing space or cost in favor of a better job in a more expensive locale."
San Antonio also ranks highly among cities that had a high number of incoming and outgoing home views on Zillow — further proof that both life and people are constantly in flux in two of Texas' fastest-growing areas.
