Zillow data reveals who still wants to move to Phoenix

Most pre-pandemic moves were motivated by job changes. Now, housing affordability is driving cross-state relocations, experts say.

Why it matters: While our housing prices have become unattainable for many local families, they're still much more affordable than neighboring coastal cities. This has driven major population growth in metro Phoenix in recent years.

• Maricopa County has held the title of "fastest growing county by numeric growth" for much of the past decade, per the U.S. Census Bureau.

Zoom in: Roughly 68% of page views for metro Phoenix Zillow listings are from locals, according to first-quarter company data shared with Axios.

• For those outside Arizona, Zillow listings in Phoenix generated the most interest from people in Los Angeles and Seattle.

Irony alert: The surge in people moving to metro Phoenix has created a housing supply-and-demand problem that's spiked rental and sale prices.

• Less than a decade ago, Phoenix was attractive nationally for our ubiquitous affordability. Now, we're seen as affordable only to people leaving the most expensive big cities.

The intrigue: "We're seeing a big pullback in migration right now," Redfin deputy chief economist Taylor Marr tells Axios.

• It's simply too expensive for most people to buy right now. Across the U.S., the number of Redfin users searching for homes within their own metro is down 18% from a year ago, per a June report.
• Meanwhile, the number of users surfing listings in a new area dropped 7%.