This High-Priced Metro’s Popularity Surges Among Local Homebuyers: Why They’re Staying Put as Others Flee Big Cities

Following a period of urban flight driven by a crisis of homelessness and quality-of-life decline, San Francisco appears to be turning a corner, with fewer residents now looking to leave.

San Francisco has gained popularity among the locals, as only 62.9% listing views went to homes in outside markets in spring 2025, down from 68.9% six years ago, according to a new report from Realtor.com®.

Economist Jiayi Xu studied the 100 largest U.S. metros for cross-market demand, focusing on views of Realtor.com listings and comparing how many users from out-of-town were looking at homes in a city versus how many locals were browsing properties elsewhere.

She found that in all four regions, more than half of online shopping traffic went to homes outside of the shopper’s current metro areas.

But that trend was slightly different in San Francisco, which has managed to win over the locals despite the city’s stubbornly high cost of living, skyrocketing home prices, and elevated unemployment rates.

In June, the median list price in the sprawling West Coast metro reached $998,500, up 4% from the same period six years ago—handily the highest among the seven cities that have seen a rise in interest from local homebuyers since the pre-pandemic era.

During that period, the unemployment rate in San Francisco has increased from 2.3% in May 2019 to 3.9% in May 2025.

Affordable by comparison

And still, more San Franciscans are staying put and looking to buy homes locally.

One of the major factors behind this surprising trend, according to Xu, is that some of the neighboring metros are even less affordable than San Francisco.

The nearby city of San Jose, located in the heart of Silicon Valley—the home of tech giants like Apple and Google—has earned the dubious distinction of having the highest median list price of the 50 largest U.S. metros, coming in at a staggering $1,398,000 in June.

A month earlier, San Jose’s median home price was even higher, reaching $1,419,000, requiring the typical earner to spend more than 72% of their income, assuming a 20% down payment and a 30-year fixed mortgage rate of 6.82%, according to Realtor.com research.

For comparison, a person earning a median income in San Francisco would have to set aside less than 60% of their salary to cover housing expenses.

“While the San Francisco metro remains expensive, prices have cooled from their [COVID-19] pandemic-era highs, making entry somewhat more feasible for some buyers,” explains Xu. “In particular, areas like the Tri-Valley region offer more attainable options—especially compared to the pricier San Jose metro—with a broader range of relatively affordable inventory and greater housing variety.”

Downtown San Francisco’s gradual comeback

Another likely reason for the growing appeal of San Francisco’s housing market is the city’s urban improvement plan, marked by lower crime rates and cleaner streets.

Mayor Daniel Lurie, who came into office in January, has pledged to tackle crime, open-air drug use, and the proliferation of homeless encampments, all of which sharply decreased foot traffic and sent businesses fleeing the bleak downtown area a few years ago. 

The effort by the Democrat—and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune—to clean up and revitalize the downtown area has shown early signs of progress, including a sizable drop in crime and the number of street encampments.  

His early initiatives have included enforcement sweeps at known drug hot spots and a mandate that city-provided drug paraphernalia be handed out only alongside referrals to counseling and recovery services.

Downtown San Francisco’s housing market has visibly perked up in response to Lurie’s efforts, with the median list price in May surging more than 50% year over year.  

The AI boom is also being credited with more tech workers either moving to or staying put in the city, and tech leaders say that the artificial intelligence gold rush, with hundreds of billions of dollars on the line, will play a major role in continuing to woo workers back to San Francisco.

“It’s because of AI that San Francisco is back,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang last month at The Hill & Valley Forum.

“Anybody who lives in San Francisco, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Just about everybody evacuated San Francisco,” he said. “Now it’s thriving again. It’s all because of AI.”

Six other metros saw a drop in out-of-market home shopping in spring 2025 compared with six years earlier›.

Portland, OR, topped the list, with just 57.9% of listing views going to homes in other areas, down nearly 10% from 2019. 

San Francisco was in second place, with a six-year share change of 5.9%, followed by Houston, TX, boasting a 4% change in out-of-market online home shopping.

“These markets generally share traits like relative affordability, diverse job opportunities, stable employment, and easy access to nature and outdoor amenities,” notes Xu.