Data confirms Sacramento attracting Bay Area refugees; Will Elk Grove mayor, city council commit to entry level home for area families?
Will entry level homes be built?
Data compiled by Seattle-based Redfin confirms what people in Elk Grove already see – Bay Area refugees preferred in-state relocation spot is the Sacramento region.
Redfin’s data shows that searches for housing outside a buyer’s metropolitan area exceed within-metro searches as the overall housing market slows from the pandemic homebuying boom. That’s mainly because high mortgage rates, still-high home prices, and inflation have driven many homebuyers – especially remote workers capable of moving to less expensive areas.
Places still considered affordable, like Phoenix, Las Vegas, and some cities in Florida, are some of the nation’s most popular destinations. Their data confirms Sacramento is the most popular destination for Bay Area would be transplants.
Along with interest from Bay Area residents, Sacramento is nationally popular. Redfin data shows Sacramento is the sixth most popular destination nationally and, aside from Bay Area buyers, is popular for would-be transplants from Chicago.
As it concerns Elk Grove, especially relating to Bay Area transplants who generally are selling more expensive property and buying houses for cash, will new home developers continue catering to the so-called equity refugees?
This week, there was a glimpse confirming what to expect from the Elk Grove City Council.
A majority of the Elk Grove City Council supports the Pleasant Grove Estate development in Elk Grove’s rural area. The small project will have 14 single-family dwellings on the two-acre parcel and, as one person noted, likely have houses up to 5,000 square feet.
With two-acre lots in the gated Pleasant Grove Estates community is likely to find homes priced over $1 million. While most local families will be hard-pressed to buy there, Bay Area buyers with fistfuls of dollars could be attracted to the area like bugs to a light.
While this development is not in an area amenable to affordable single-family dwellings, will the Elk Grove City Council allow new home developers to continue building products for Bay Area transplants, large homes, or will they press for smaller, starter-like homes that will provide opportunities to build intergenerational wealth for the areas younger, native to the Sacramento-area families who don’t have the economic heft of Bay Area transplants?
Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen has committed to providing area young and lower-income families with opportunities to buy a home in Elk Grove. As seen in the video, last June Singh-Allen publicly committed to making entry-level homes available in the city.
It will be noteworthy to see if the Singh-Allen and her city council will break with the city’s long-standing tradition and stand up to the developers demanding they offer entry-level homes. Conversely, will they continue their lassie-faire attitude and allow developers free reign?
It will take a few years to see what develops, but don’t be surprised if the mayor and her city council maintain their laisses-faire approach to single-family dwellings.