With rising housing costs and a constant threat for natural disasters, some California residents are relocating to other West Coast areas, such as Boise, Phoenix, and Reno, Nev., to look for a cheaper cost of living. In the second quarter, only 26% of California home buyers could afford a median-price single-family house, which was almost $600,000. As a result, 143,000 more people left the state than arrived from other U.S. locations in 2016, according to Bloomberg.
“Eventually the laws of supply and demand are going to drive people to other parts of the country,” Kelman says. “Boise isn’t five times worse than California as a place to live. But places in California are five times more expensive.” Boise is becoming an alternative to traditional havens for Californians such as Portland and Seattle that have also gotten too pricey, he says.
About 29 percent of the Idaho capital’s home-listing views are from Californians, according to Realtor.com. Reno and Prescott, Ariz., also were popular. These housing markets are soaring while much of the rest of the country cools. In Nevada, where Californians make up the largest share of arrivals, prices jumped 13 percent in August, the biggest increase for any state, according to CoreLogic Inc. data. It was followed closely by Idaho, with a 12 percent gain.
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