Some Americans are moving to Mexico for housing savings
13WHAM-TV9 hours ago
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (TND) — With housing prices rising, more Americans are moving across the border to Mexico.
Just ask Toni Smith, an athlete and head jumps coach at Southwestern Community College, who chose to move over from California to Mexico to save money.
She said the past few years of living in San Diego, she had to have roommates to afford the high cost of living.
Scott Asher, another San Diegan, worked in the gig economy when he still lived in California. His last San Diego County rent was $1,200 a month to share a house with six roommates.
But San Diegans like Smith and Asher are finding the rent costs in Tijuana are significantly cheaper.
Max Katz, a broker for Baja Real Estate Group, said he’s seen the numbers grow through the last couple of years.
“In the short term trend in the last two years, I’ve had a lot of younger people come that might not be a normal part of our market which are now looking to buy and live because they can work remotely and there’s a lot more flexibility in their lives,” said Katz.
Border towns like Tijuana and Ensanada have been known to be places that combat San Diego’s sky-high housing costs.
Per capita income in San Diego is $39,737 — or roughly $3,311.42 per month — according to the U.S. Census Bureau. One set of data shows the median cost of rent in San Diego is $2,970.
Gustavo Chacon Aubanel, owner of real estate company NuevoHogar Inmobiliaria, has seen the impact of San Diego residents coming to Mexico firsthand. “Tijuana’s real estate industry increasingly caters to American clients. Out of 10 people who call us, seven of them are from the United States,” he said.
“You can get a waterfront home or condo in our area anywhere from $200 to $600 or $700 would be a normal price range for our market [in Tijuana] and that same property in San Diego would be untouchable; it would be in the millions, for sure,” Katz said.
Chacon Aubanel said the people most affected by this migration are Tijuana’s working-class because those people are earning pesos instead of dollars.
