Everyone’s Leaving San Diego…But Where Are They Going?

Over the past few years, we've helped a lot of people make the move out of San Diego for all kinds of different reasons, whether it be new jobs, lifestyle changes, retirement, or people just looking for a little more space for a little bit less money. And one thing we keep seeing is the same question, how much does my money get me somewhere else? So today we are comparing what a typical San Diego budget buys you in the top five cities people are moving to from San Diego, according to new data from Redfin. And there's a good chance maybe if you are thinking about moving out of San Diego, maybe one of these is already on your list. So we're looking at home to home prices, market conditions, and lifestyle trade-offs so you get the full picture before making the move. And if this is your first time here, I'm Chris Erickson with the Living in San Diego real estate crew, and we help people make the move, whether it be into San Diego, out of San Diego, or just around San Diego. And we are real estate experts right here in San Diego, but if you are moving elsewhere, it's super important to have a real estate expert on the other side as well. So if you guys are thinking about moving out of San Diego, and if maybe it's one of these places, maybe it's elsewhere, but hit us up in that first link right down below to shoot us an email, give us a little few details about what you're thinking, and we can put you in contact with somebody in that area. That's going to not only help you move up there, but help make the experience super smooth. So let's jump into the five spots that people are moving to from San Diego. So here are the top places people are moving from San Diego to with number one on the list being Portland, Oregon. But to compare the market, to compare what's happening, just so you guys have a little more insight into these other markets, we got to first show you what's happening right here in the San Diego real estate market. So as far as and this is for single family homes, now condos, townhomes are going to be a little bit less. But let's jump into median price right here, it is $1.2 million. And so that's the benchmark we're going to use when we are looking at the rest of these markets. We're going to go from 1.1 to $1.3 million and show you what you're going to get in those different markets. But another thing that's super important, what's the competition look like? So if you're moving from San Diego, competition here is usually pretty strong and seen a little bit of a slowdown over these past few months. But for the most part, you're going to see a home sell quick, but let's compare it to other ones. And so as of right now, we're looking at 34 days on the market right here for San Diego. As we are going down, we're going to look at this and compare. So how hot is the San Diego real estate market? Right now we're somewhat competitive. Now depending on when you're watching this, this could definitely change. As we go into spring times in a lot of these markets, this can get more competitive. As we go into winter times, it could be a little bit less. So it really depends on when you're actually watching this video. But just for a comparison right now, we're looking at 69 as far as the competition for San Diego. Super important price right here. How much above or how much below this price is going for? So a $1.2 million home, are homes selling for above that or below that? Now if they're going above that, that's meaning if it's above 100%, it means there's competition out there. It means there's multiple offers. That means that there is enough buyers and not enough supply, not enough homes on the market. So a couple of years ago, this number was much higher, much higher over 100%. Now there's a little bit of change in the market, so 98.8%. And we're also going to look at this to compare it to other cities. So this is for San Diego right now. And when you're looking to move to different areas, it's not just necessarily the home price. It's the lifestyle. It's the climate. It's all that kind of stuff. So we're going to show you what San Diego is here and then we'll compare it to the other cities as well. So San Diego, 7% flood, moderate flood. You have a fire factor. So that might be a huge part when you're looking at other places. Now this can affect home insurance prices, can affect a lot of different things in the other prices, in the other places we're going to show you. 44% are in the fire factor right here in San Diego, minimal wind risk and a heat factor of 88%. And so when we're doing these price trends, we're just going to go super quick. But the biggest thing right here, this is now the Portland market, is that the median sales price. Look at, compared to San Diego, single family homes, Portland, you're looking at less than half for the median sales price right here. One thing to note as well, median days on market is a little bit lower. So homes are moving a little quicker. Market is definitely moving a little bit faster than right here in San Diego. Now when we look at the competitive score, it's very close, 67 compared to the 69 here in San Diego. But the sales to list price is a little bit higher. So where we are getting a little bit softer here in San Diego, Portland is still staying pretty strong. And one thing to note, fire factor, much lower than here in San Diego. So a little bit less of that fire risk. And then heat factor, you would think, okay, Portland up there, it's rainy all the time, but it's still at 86%. So Portland is expected to see a 100% increase in the number of days over 92 degrees Fahrenheit over the next 30 years. So Portland is expected to experience seven hot days this year and 14 days above 92 degrees in 30 years. So not too crazy, even when you compare that to the San Diego one, you would expect this to be a little bit higher, but see a 185% increase in the number of days over 89 degrees Fahrenheit. It's going to have eight hot days this year and 20 days above 89 degrees in 30 years. What kind of house do you actually get in Portland for that price point that you're going to sell here in San Diego and move it up to Portland? One of the biggest things is that the median sales price in Portland is $306 per square foot. When you're looking at San Diego, that number is much higher at $665 per square foot. So one of the biggest things you're going to get is more house. And so you might see a $1.2 million home, big lot, but there's so many different areas. So as you're exploring, yeah, look at houses, look at what you're going to get, but really start that conversation early with where you're potentially going to move to see what you actually get. So just looking at right here, let's look at this five bed, five bath, 3,601 square foot. Now I don't know where this house is. Is it in a spot that's going to fit your lifestyle? All that kind of stuff. You're going to have to really dig into all that, but just compare this to something you're going to get in San Diego. Right here, you're going to get a five bed, five bath, nicely renovated spot, 3,600 square foot right here in Portland. You can see might've even been a flip where they came in and redid all of this home to make it nice and new. So definitely a lot bigger home when you get here and let's check out the backyard too. So it looks like you're a little bit more in the city, you have some apartments back here where you're getting in here and then you go into, so backyard right here, you got a little garage, so decent sized backyard as well. When you look at San Diego, look at the first ones popping up is going to be 1.25 and you're looking at like 1,700 square foot. Now you're still getting four bed, two bath, probably going to get a smaller backyard. Yeah, it's clean inside. You're looking good there. It looks like they've done some remodels, not brand new, but definitely not the original and going through, yeah, decent little backyard here, but not really comparable to that 3,600 square foot property we just saw. And it's not just looking at the homes, you got to look at taxes. You got to look at lifestyle. You get to look at stuff that's actually important to you. So yeah, you're going to get more house up there, but is it the right spot? Even looking at the population density, you're looking at Portland versus the city of San Diego. So San Diego looking at 1.4 million population, Portland looking about 650,000, but it's a much smaller footprint. So even though there is less people, it is a little bit more dense up there. So even these kinds of factors that you're thinking about, San Diego, yeah, it's populated. It's got a ton of people. It wants more space. But when you're looking at these other areas, you got to compare all of the factors as well. Second place people are leaving San Diego for is Nashville, Tennessee. Now looking at Nashville, median sales price, yeah, definitely a lot less than San Diego. But if you're going out there, you're probably going to get, you're taking basically your San Diego funds. You're going to move it out there. But nonetheless, you're going to get a lot more house when you move out to Nashville. How competitive is the market when you look in here, a little bit less competitive. So if you're going from a competitive market to San Diego, you're going to have a few more options. You're going to have a little bit more negotiating room, but we're looking at 40 on the scale right here. Even the sales to list price at 97.1 is a bit less than San Diego. But when you move to Nashville, the fire factor is a little bit less than San Diego, but all the other ones are a little bit higher flood factor, about double as San Diego. Wind factor, a hundred percent. So you got a little few more wind events, even though we just had a wind event right here in San Diego, blew over some trees, wrecked some stuff, but nonetheless, you're going to have a higher wind factor in Nashville. Heat factor is up a little bit too. So when you're going to San Diego, you're thinking, yeah, it's a little bit mild. We're going to have some hot days, especially as you go inland, but we don't necessarily have to deal with the humidity or the bugs or anything like that. That does come with some of these other areas we'll show you. So what does 1.1 to 1.3 actually get you in Nashville? You're selling your home out here. You're going to move out there and you're going to get around the same price home. You're looking at, I put everything here as three bed, two bath as well. So all those are going to be, it's going to filter out some of those smaller homes, but even the number of homes where you have 74 homes right here in Nashville, it's actually not much different than San Diego where you only have 81 homes now. Some of them potentially because the price points are higher. So once you move up in price, you might find a few more options here in Nashville for $1.15 million. You're getting five bed, five bath, 3,377 square foot. One thing you're going to find actually in Nashville and certain other areas too is more new construction. So there's a ton of new construction where you're not going to find a lot of that right here in San Diego. You'll find little niches here and there, but you're not going to find these big sprawling developments. Now this looks like it was a new house on a lot here, potentially already in the neighborhood, just completely redesigned, rebuilt. But you're also going to find new construction communities within Nashville as well. You got the garage, you got the three stories. So one thing I am noticing here, like a lot of homes in San Diego, you're going to have fences around the yards. It looks like a lot of these areas too. You don't have fences around the yard, so you have open space back here. And so in Nashville, your income taxes are different, so your take home is a little bit more. And when you're looking at the map, you're a little bit more sprawl here. As Nashville builds out, it's going a little bit farther from the center. So you're going to find a little bit more on those outskirts. You're going to find like this one is the home that we just showed you, but it is just a new lot or a lot in this kind of older community where they just built a brand new home. But it's definitely a different rhythm, a different vibe than living right here in San Diego. Next up on the list is Las Vegas, Nevada. All right, so let's check out the housing trends in Las Vegas. Once again, much lower price, $490,000 median days on market is actually a bit more. So the market is a little bit slower out in Nevada. Once you go to what the demand looking like, once again, a little less competitive than right here in San Diego. So good news. If you are moving out there as a buyer, you're going to have a little, like I said, a little few more options. You're also going to have a little less competition than you would here in San Diego. Sales to list price right around where San Diego is. One thing that you are going to have to deal with, even though it's not too high on here, is the heat factor in Las Vegas. So yeah, certain areas of San Diego could get hot, but definitely certain areas of Vegas, now you guys have probably been out there, can be much hotter. So a lot more of that indoor living, a lot more of that AC, a lot more of when this is like one of the times when, you know, that extra square footage does mean a ton because even here in San Diego, yes, we're in our houses a lot, but in some other areas where it's just like basically can't go outside, you know, you're going to just melt when you go out there. Those indoor spaces mean so much more. So here is a few that you're going to get in Vegas. You can see bigger homes, pools, all that kind of stuff. But as we go back up, this is the 1.1 to 1.3. Let's check out this guy right here. Four bed, three and a half bath, 2,983 square foot. Nice big backyard. Obviously a bunch of fake grass, fake turf out there it's looking like. You have that indoor outdoor space up here. You have some nice views. Once you get into the hills, you know, outside, if you guys haven't been outside of Vegas a little bit, you get some great views and stuff out there as well, but it looks pretty fresh, pretty new. It does look like you are in a gated community here as well. Beautiful bathrooms here. So you can see you get a lot more bang for your buck in some of these other areas. But one of the biggest adjustments is going to Vegas is going to be the climate. Obviously you're living in the desert and stuff like summer utility costs, all that kind of stuff. Number four on the list is Boise Idaho. We had some friends move out there, I believe last year. And one thing that a little bit different from Boise to think of a little bit different job market, obviously when you move, you know, San Diego, plenty of job opportunities up there, a little bit smaller, a little bit slower pace. But one thing that obviously over these past few years, remote work, if you do that, I mean, this could be a great spot for you. So Boise housing market trends, obviously the biggest thing in all of these throughout all these trends is the median sales price right here in San Diego, 1.2. All these have been less than 600 so far. Now you're looking at median days on market right on par with San Diego 38 as compared to the 34 we had out here. So once again, not too crazy as far as the number of days on the market. Once we jump into demand, let's see what it's looking like. So somewhat competitive, not as competitive as San Diego sales list. The sales price is still somewhat high over these past few years, especially during pandemic Boise shot up like crazy. It's settled off a little bit as San Diego has as well. But when we're jumping into climate, you're going to see flood factor 15, fire factor 60, not minimal wind factor, and then heat factor. So these are one of the lower ones, obviously, I don't know, it doesn't have cold factor in here. But yeah, is one of the biggest things, biggest differences, especially live in San Diego compared to living up there is going to be winter time and actually dealing with a real winter out there. So definitely, once again, ton more square footage as you're looking in that $1.2 million mark, ton of different style homes. One thing about Boise as well, you're going to find a lot of new construction up there too. Actually, my editor for our other relocation channel did relocate out to Boise, and he's digging it. But he's in a new construction home, kind of a new construction neighborhood in an area right outside. So that's some of these areas where you're looking at homes, you're looking at knowing the area, knowing what's going on is you're not right in the center of town, you're not maybe you're a little bit further from the airport, you might have a few other factors that you don't really think of when you're moving out there. So really keep eye on that and just kind of get dialed in. Some of the new construction homes, you're going to see a little bit less square footage where you're looking at four bed, three bath, 2,600 square foot. When you look at some of the established homes, some of the homes that have been here a little bit, you're looking at four bed, four and a half bath, 3,500 square foot. But let's check out a little bit of new construction and see where you're getting four bed, three bath. Oh, it's like not even done at all. But that is definitely new construction. So off grid, you're looking at some of these places. Yeah, you get a little more access to outdoors. Now San Diego, once you go to the mountains, once you go a little east, you have access to all that. But this is kind of like surrounded by a lot of that as well. So let's check out this property right here, elevated on a hill a little bit. I don't know if that looks like a community pool or the house pool, if that's the house pool, that's insane. But no, that's a community pool right there. So anyways, a little bit more new construction up there. Plus you get some of these other ones where you have a little bit more space or a lot bit more space, five bed, four bath, not just in the house, but surrounding the house, right? You want some property. We had some clients who moved from Carlsbad. They moved out to Colorado. They wanted some more space and what they were able to get out there compared to here was quite the difference. Out here track home, bigger home, you know, good size, decent yard, all that kind of stuff out there. They got bigger home obviously, but it was on like more acreage. It's kind of in that forest setting where you have your feel like you're living kind of in the mountains, which they kind of are. But anyways, total different lifestyle, right? Than living out here in San Diego. But you can see depending on what you're getting, you're not, you don't just need new construction, but there's a ton of different options in a lot of these different areas. So number five on list, people are leaving San Diego for Phoenix, Arizona. Once again, sub a $500,000 for median price point, median days on market a little bit more. Once we get into demand, you can see a little bit less competitive out there. The average home sells for about 3% below list. You're looking right here at 97.6%. Now we jumped into climate 10% for flood, 51% for fires. So only slightly higher than a San Diego there. And then the heat factor is actually a little bit less than San Diego. But when you're looking at this, Phoenix has an extreme risk for heat. This is due to a feels like temperatures increasing and because 79% of homes in Phoenix have increased or have an extreme heat factor. So the number of days over this temperature right here in San Diego is 89 degrees in Phoenix. You're looking at 111 degrees. So once again, a lot more of that indoor living, a lot more of that indoor lifestyle, but also a lot more home. Now once again, Phoenix is large. You're going to have a lot of sprawl. You're going to have a lot of different areas. You're going to have some new construction. You're going to have some established, but all in all, you're going to get more square footage. So let's jump into one of these. Let's check out this guy. Looking at a four bed, three bath, almost 3,200 square foot. One thing you'll find, I mean, you find it here in San Diego too, but a lot of pools. I have a buddy who lives out there, definitely installed a pool at his house. I mean, check out this setup right here. We have the bar top, swim up. You have the sunken little area to hang out over there. You got a nice outdoor space right here, a little fire pit, barbecue, all that kind of stuff. So a lot of yards taken up by the pool, but once you get inside and you can see it's nice, it's clean. Once again, over 3,000 square foot, almost 3,200 square foot. So obviously this one is not new construction, but just give you a little vibe of what you're going to get. And once again, a few more homes than in San Diego where we had 81 homes in that price point. Once you get to Phoenix, you're looking at 139 homes as of right now. So a few more options as well once you get out there. But just like other areas where, you know, San Diego, you'd be outside year round basically and get to enjoy the outdoors more or less year round, winter, summer, fall, spring, any time really. But some of these other areas where it snows, where it gets hot, where it rains a lot, where all that kind of stuff, you're not necessarily going to enjoy it. Yeah. You have access to a lot of outdoors, but maybe you're not going to enjoy them as often, or maybe you'll enjoy more in the certain times that you are able to get there because you did not take it for granted. Like, you know, you live in San Diego, you're like, Hey, I'm here all day, every day. I can just go outside. But with that comfort comes a little bit of taking stuff for granted. But obviously the biggest story in all of this, if you're moving elsewhere from San Diego is you're likely going to get more bang for your buck. You're going to get some more square footage, potentially like that last Phoenix home, a nice pool, a nice backyard for that $1.2 million price point. Now there's trade offs in all of them, but that's why it's super important to know what's going on in those other neighborhoods and actually are in those other cities besides San Diego and really dig in. Like if you lived in San Diego for a bit, go visit those other areas, go check them out. But if you need some contacts, some agents up in that area, like I said, hit us up in that email right down below, and we'll connect you with somebody awesome in that neck of the woods. And it could be elsewhere too. We got great connections throughout a lot of the US. So hit us up. I'm Chris Erickson with the Living in San Diego crew, and we got your back when making the move in San Diego or out of San Diego as well.