Silicon Valley Leads State in Skedaddling Residents

Silicon Valley’s home, Santa Clara County, Calif., leads the state in residents wanting to move out of town, according new analysis from Realtor.com. 

Realtor.com’s chief economist Danielle Hale cites the desire for more affordable housing as a chief reason pushing these Californians to look elsewhere to live. But where? Outside of California, South Bay residents are targeting communities near "Phoenix, Arizona; Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada; Austin, Texas; and Boise, Idaho — where homes are $750,000 to $965,000 less than the typical property in Santa Clara,” The East Bay Times reports. HomeAdvisor's report also found that "the ripple effect" of these migrations is upward pressure on home prices.

The crisis has inspired a flurry of state legislation to spur enough new housing construction to slow and eventually lower prices, including a sweeping proposal to add millions of homes by public transit. It died in April, but its author, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, has vowed to try again next year. Instead of staying put, many Santa Clara County residents are decamping for Alameda, Sacramento, San Joaquin or Placer counties, looking at homes that are $509,000- $894,000 less than the Santa Clara median price of $1.28 million or leaving the state altogether and moving to Arizona, Nevada, Idaho or Texas for even better deals.

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