Realtor.com<\/a> exceeded 60% across the 100 largest U.S. metros in spring 2026, up from about 48% in 2019, according to the Realtor.com economic research team. More than half of home shopping traffic in every U.S. region went to listings outside buyers\u2019 local markets.<\/p>\nThe West recorded the highest outbound home shopping traffic in the second quarter at more than 65%. The South followed at 59.8%, while the Northeast reached 58.3% and the Midwest recorded 56.1%.<\/p>\n
San Jose Leads Outbound Searches<\/p>\n
San Jose, California, had the highest share of out-of-market search traffic among the 100 largest metros. More than 94% of San Jose-based shoppers looked elsewhere during the second quarter.<\/p>\n
The metro was also the nation\u2019s most expensive major housing market, with a median asking price above $1.39 million in spring 2026. Its median listing price was 225.5% above the national average.<\/p>\n
San Francisco was the leading destination for San Jose shoppers. Although San Francisco\u2019s median prices were 133% above the national average, they were 28% below San Jose\u2019s.<\/p>\n
San Jose generated roughly 40% of San Francisco\u2019s out-of-market views in the second quarter. Los Angeles accounted for 7%, followed by Seattle at 4.3%.<\/p>\n
Buyers Target Lower-Cost Markets<\/p>\n
Seattle and Washington, D.C., also recorded high levels of outbound searches. Nearly 86% of Washington shoppers searched outside their local market, while nearly 84% of Seattle shoppers did the same.<\/p>\n
Baltimore was the top destination for Washington buyers. Its median listing price was about 35% below Washington\u2019s $588,332 median.<\/p>\n
Seattle shoppers most often targeted Portland, Oregon, where the typical second-quarter home price was 24% below Seattle\u2019s $779,827 median.<\/p>\n
In Los Angeles, just over 70% of prospective buyers searched outside the metro. Riverside, California, attracted significant interest. Homes viewed by Los Angeles shoppers locally averaged $641 per square foot, compared with $341 per square foot in Riverside.<\/p>\n
Midtier Metros See Outbound Interest<\/p>\n
The trend also extended to markets that had previously offered greater affordability. More than 70% of shoppers in Salt Lake City, Denver, and Durham, North Carolina, searched outside their metros during the second quarter.<\/p>\n
Their leading destinations offered prices 5% to 15% lower. Denver shoppers favored Colorado Springs, Colorado, while Salt Lake City shoppers searched in Ogden, Utah. Durham shoppers looked to Raleigh, North Carolina.<\/p>\n
Employment Also Influences Searches<\/p>\n
Housing prices were not the only factor influencing cross-market searches. Birmingham, Alabama, recorded roughly 72% out-of-market traffic, with Nashville, Tennessee, as its leading destination despite Nashville\u2019s median asking price being 80% higher.<\/p>\n
Realtor.com senior economist Jiayi Xu attributed the interest to Nashville\u2019s stronger job market, 3.2% unemployment rate, and lack of a state income tax.<\/p>\n
Get the latest insurance market updates and discover exclusive program opportunities at\u00a0ProgramBusiness.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Homebuyers across the U.S. are increasingly searching outside their local markets as housing costs and employment opportunities influence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[27256,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-445124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-homebuyers","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}