Metropolitan research is a significant part of the macro analysis performed at the beginning of the location selection process to locate an attractive real estate investment. One of the important indicators for understanding the trends of the region is net migration.
Net migration: The number of people who have moved to the area minus the number of people who have left.
Positive net migration is a positive indicator. When a significant part of the population growth originates in net migration, it means that a positive process is taking place in the area that increases demand, which can lead to a rise in real estate value. Negative net migration is a negative insight for real estate investment, as it could have a negative impact on future economic development in the area, and therefore decrease demand for housing. While net migration is an important macro indicator, it’s not the only indicator that a real estate investor should consider.
Among the main causes of negative net migration are:
- Low supply of employment opportunities
- Low occupational dynamics (occupational dynamics is the existence of an abundance of businesses and jobs that allow residents to change jobs every few years)
- Low supply of properties
- Low affordability and high cost of living.
In the list below we present the ten metropolises with the highest negative number of migrants:
- New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
Population (2020): 19,124,359 people
Population growth since 2015: -1.02%
Net migration: -702,027 migrants since 2015.
2. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
Population (2020): 13,109,903 people
Population growth since 2015: -0.88%
Net migration: -459,042 migrants since 2015.
3. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI
Population (2020) : 9,406,638 people
Population growth since 2015: -1.53%
Net migration: -387,813 migrants since 2015.
4. Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI
Population (2020): 4,304,136 people
Population growth since 2015: -0.14%
Net migration: -51,111 migrants since 2015.
5. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
Population (2020): 1,971,160 people
Population growth since 2015: -0.11%
Net migration: -50,710 migrants since 2015.
6. Urban Honolulu, HI
Population (2020): 963,826 people.
Population growth since 2015: -2.8%
Net migration: -50,697 migrants since 2015.
7. El Paso, TX
Population (2020): 846,192 people.
Population growth since 2015: 1.35%
Net migration: -32,807 migrants since 2015.
8. San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
Population (2020): 3,332,427 people.
Population growth since 2015: 1.57%
Net migration: -32,348 migrants since 2015.
9. Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI
Population (2020): 1,577,676 people.
Population growth since 2015: 0.05%
Net migration: -30,665 migrants since 2015.
10. St. Louis, MO-IL
Population (2020): 2,805,473 people
Population growth since 2015: -0.12%
Net migration: - 29,909 migrants since 2015.
Data sources
Reli.AI uses only the latest statistics available and cross-referenced from several leading government sources. We aggregate the data from different information sources, create a large API, and make the information clearly accessible to real estate investors.
