How U-Haul Stats Reflect Real Estate Trends

California Real Estate Podcast with Karla Ferrando

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Where are people moving? Which cities are they leaving? What locations are popular these days?
A great way to get answers to these questions is to look to U-Haul. Their pricing model gives us the statistics on where people are going. For instance, it’s more expensive to rent a truck in cities that have a low inventory of trucks. In cities with more trucks, they are less expensive to rent.
In Los Angeles, it costs 63% more to rent a U-Haul truck because there aren’t many trucks available. The reason for that low inventory? People aren’t dropping off trucks in that area—they’re leaving and then dropping them off at their destination.

Cities with a higher inventory tend to have more people moving there. For example, in the Northwest, it is less expensive to rent trucks in cities like Seattle and Portland because people are moving there and dropping off trucks. We see the same trend happening in the Southwest in cities like Phoenix, Austin, and Dallas.

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Cities with a higher inventory of trucks have more people moving there.

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As far as the Temecula Valley area goes, the stats aren’t quite as dismal. We have approximately a 1.6% migration rate, which means we don’t have as many people moving out of our area as other areas, such as Los Angeles. I think the more populated areas across the U.S. are losing residents due to diminishing employment opportunities. According to Newsweek, many business firms have left California for places like Mexico, Nevada, Texas, and Arizona.
Last year, United Van Lines ranked California in its high outbound category, which means 55% or more of all the firm California shipments were outbound rather than inbound. What does this mean for our housing market? So far, the Temecula valley has maintained its values, although sales have slowed a bit due to the election year.
If you have any questions about our current market or about real estate in general, give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!