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Many Californians are dreaming of Texas and not California when it comes to finding an affordable home.
The U.S Census Bureau reported in 2021 that more than 107,000 Californians had moved to Texas, while only around 33,000 Texans moved to the Golden State.
Sara Briseño-Gerrish, the chair of the San Antonio Board of Realtors, said Californians have flocked to Texas for the affordable housing and good job market. She said it's not true that they have taken over the local housing market.
She said there is still plenty of room in the market for local buyers.
Briseño-Gerrish said the trend of paying premiums above and beyond the asking price for a home is gone.
"I think the days of paying like thousands and thousands above list price like we were experiencing during the pandemic," she explained, "that seems to be kind of over here in the San Antonio market."
But she added that Californians do bring other buying powers to the table.
"They have usually come in with larger down payments," she explained. "Some are even able to pay cash if they have liquidated their home in California, so certainly they are in very competitive situation."
Briseño-Gerrish said regardless of where a buyer comes from, the local housing market has cooled a bit since the pandemic. Buyers are now on more equal footing with sellers when it comes to sales negotiations over a home.
"It's still a great market, but we have definitely seen a change," she said. "Days on the market are increasing. I believe this is the third month in a row that prices have ticked down by like 1%."
If all of Texas seems a more affordable place to buy a home among Californias, then Bexar County is the most affordable of the affordable, another draw for the local housing market.
The board of realtors said Bexar County started the summer with a median home sales price of $305,000, lower than Harris and Dallas counties, with median sales prices of $335,000 and $390,000 respectively, and much lower than Travis County's median price of $580,000.
Briseño-Gerrish said voter passage of a Texas school property tax break in November should draw even more interest from California and other out-of-staters considering a move to the Lone Star State.
