Moving in
San Antonio sizzles in new ranking of the hottest markets for homebuyers
San Antonio appears to be a powerful magnet for homebuyers leaving pricier areas.
A new ranking from technology and data provider CoreLogic puts the San Antonio metro area at No. 8 among the 15 hottest markets for homebuyers based on the number of people relocating there from April to December last year. At No. 10, Dallas-Fort Worth was the only other Texas metro in the top 15.
Riverside-San Bernardino, California, grabbed the No. 1 spot.
Last year, the San Antonio area saw an 11 percent rise in home sales compared with 2019, according to the San Antonio Board of Realtors, and a 7 percent hike in the median home price.
“Our city and surrounding areas are attractive places to own a home, both for locals and for transplants, and the numbers prove it,” Cher Miculka, 2021 chairwoman of the San Antonio Board of Realtors, said in a January news release.
DFW experienced a similar surge in home sales and prices. Home sales rose 8.7 percent in 2020 compared with 2019, and the median home price climbed 6.7 percent.
“Housing demand is still strong, evidenced by the increase in home sales,” Bill Jordan, president of the MetroTex Association of Realtors, said in June. “Unfortunately, our limited inventory just can’t keep up with that demand.”
CoreLogic says many homebuyers left states with high taxes and expensive housing last year and moved to metro areas in Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
“The pandemic created a perfect recipe for consistently employed Americans,” Archana Pradhan, principal economist at CoreLogic, says in a news release. “If it had been any other mix of events — for example, if low housing inventory was coupled with job inflexibility — we wouldn’t have had such a large group of homebuying consumers feeling empowered to make bold moves in their living situations.”
Top metros in CoreLogic’s report offer better affordability versus their more expensive counterparts thanks to lower costs per square foot, lower property taxes, and no state income taxes. In addition, several of the top markets supply sunny weather.