Chicago residents are eyeing Twin Cities' homes
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The Twin Cities is an attractive spot for Illinois city-dwellers and others trying to escape high home prices.
Why it matters: Affordability is drawing people to the Twin Cities, where a dollar stretches further than metros like L.A. and Boston.
The big picture: The transplants moving here include remote workers and first-timers leaving pricier states like Colorado and California, local realtors tell Axios.
What they're saying: "Even if they're 25, they're able to buy something much more significant here," says realtor Alec Roth, who's helped a half dozen out-of-state buyers purchase homes in the area in the last month.
- Among them, 20-somethings from California who bought a $650,000 home in Apple Valley: "That mortgage payment was the same as their rent for a one-bedroom apartment," Roth says..
Zoom in: Relatively lower prices aren't the only draw here. Some LGBTQ people are considering moving to Minnesota — which has doubled down to ensure access to gender-affirming care — as GOP lawmakers in other states restrict transgender rights.
- Andi Otto, executive director of Twin Cities Pride, told WCCO-TV last month he gets 10 to 20 calls a day from LGBTQ families interested in moving to the state.
Reality check: Elevated mortgage rates are keeping many people in place. "We're seeing a big pullback in migration right now," Redfin deputy chief economist Taylor Marr tells Axios.
- Across the U.S., the number of Redfin users searching for homes within their metro is down 18% from a year ago, per a June report.
- Meanwhile, the number of users surfing listings in a new area dropped by 7%.
By the numbers: More than 76% of page views for Twin Cities-area Zillow listings came from locals, according to first-quarter Zillow data shared with Axios.
- Outside the metro, Chicago was the top origin, followed by St. Louis, Denver, Phoenix, St. Cloud and Los Angeles.
We heard from several readers who recently moved to the Twin Cities, drawn to the area's abundant recreation scene or to be closer to family.
- Josh B., a transplant from Phoenix, moved to Southwest Minneapolis last November after purchasing a house, sight-unseen.
- He and his fiance "fell in love with all the outdoor activities, the atmosphere and the people," while visiting relatives that fall.
The intrigue: Several transplants wrote to us about how hard making friends is in the Twin Cities.
💭 Our thought bubble: They aren't wrong. As our 2021 reader survey found, Minnesotans are not always the most welcoming to outsiders.
Pro tip, from Jessica H., who moved to Uptown from Atlanta during the pandemic: "Sign up for a recreational sports league, get involved in organizations at work (or outside of work), attend events, go on walks around the lake and, ultimately, approach others and just say something like, 'I just moved to the cities; would you like to be friends?'"