Cromford Daily Observation - Trying to determine how many buyers in Maricopa County come from California is slightly complicated. We need to exclude many banks and companies like Opendoor who are headquartered in CA.

If we look only at the people who buy as individuals or couples, then we see significant growth over the last year. The annual purchase rate for people with Californian addresses is up 23% to 4,391. It is also up 43% from 2 years ago.

A similar (and slightly more pronounced) situation exists in Pinal County, where purchases by Californian couples or individuals are up 30% from last year and up 47% from 2 years ago. The absolute numbers are smaller however with the annual rate at 655. This is in line with the relative sizes of the Maricopa and Pinal markets.

We conclude there is a lot of truth in the rumor that more people are moving sideways from California to Central Arizona. In doing so they can often get 2 to 3 times as much home for the same money or release equity while same-sizing. Their property taxes will also be significantly lower.

The favorite locations for 2018's Californian buyers to originate are as follows:

San Diego
San Jose
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Irvine
Huntingdon Beach
Corona
Riverside
Fremont
Sacramento
Anaheim
Long Beach
Temecula
Mission Viejo
Rancho Cucamonga
Chula Vista
Carlsbad
Oceanside
Murietta
Simi Valley

The potential inter-state movement here from California is vast and the current numbers represent only a trickle, given the total size of the Californian population.

Shared by Mike Balzotti, Russ Lyon International Realty