Out‐of‐area home purchase and U.S. internal migration

Abstract This study demonstrates that out‐of‐area (OOA) property transactions can serve as a proxy for migration. Using micro‐level transaction data, we document that about 35% of migrants make OOA property purchases. The goodness‐of‐fit between migration and OOA purchases is higher for aggregate migration measures and lower for migration flows between disaggregated areas. Furthermore, in most specifications, a one percent increase in OOA purchases is associated with an approximately one percent increase in migration. We characterize the monthly out‐migration from NYC zip codes to surrounding areas after the outbreak of the COVID‐19 pandemic to demonstrate the high temporal and spatial resolution of OOA transaction data.