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AST PROVIDENCE — Abby and Eric Smallwood's decision to leave Greater Boston for Rhode Island was a long time coming. A friend had bought a home in the Ocean State years ago, and the prospect of doing the same lingered in their minds until they finally made the move last year.

    "We've seen how the price [of homes in Rhode Island] has kind of jumped, you know, slowly, and then it just, like, took off over the past two years," Abby Smallwood recalled. "It was like... 'Oh, we better do this quick, you know, because it's almost going to be back to Boston prices, if we don't go down there.'"

    Rhode Island has long been a haven for out-of-state homebuyers seeking more affordable housing options than in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. However, the state's housing market has experienced an exponential upward trajectory in recent years.

    "If you look at the median price from... five years ago versus today, it's nearly doubled," said Chris Whitten, president of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. In May, the median sales price of a single-family home hit $512,750, breaking the half-million dollar mark for the first time.

    While prices in Rhode Island are rising, they still compare favorably to those in Massachusetts and Greater Boston, where the median single-family home price exceeded $1 million in June. Out-of-state buyers have become an increasingly larger share of the market, with 23% of buyers coming from outside the state last year.

    "We have opportunities here," said Robert Rutley, a broker associate at Mott & Chace Sotheby's International Realty in Providence. "Even if you want a waterfront property, you can still occasionally find something slightly under the million-dollar mark."

    However, inventory remains low, and construction is sluggish, contributing to rising prices. A 1,280-square-foot home in East Providence sold for $460,000 in July, while a similar home in Massachusetts might cost upwards of $600,000.

    For Abby Smallwood, who moved her business from Somerville to East Providence before buying their home, the move was worth it despite the higher-than-expected price. "I don't think it was the bargain that we thought it was going to be," she said. "We really stretched our budget."

    Others have made similar decisions, drawn by Rhode Island's affordability and quality of life. Jeff Bakkensen and his family moved from Chicago in 2023, when his wife got a job at Women & Infants Fertility Center in Providence. They snagged a three-bedroom home for approximately $800,000 in Wayland Square.

    Zillow recently estimated their home to be worth just over $1 million, "which is kind of crazy to me," Bakkensen said. The Febo family also made the move from Boston, buying a three-bedroom home in East Providence last year for about $500,000 – a drastic contrast to the $800,000 condos they were looking at.

    "What we bought [our home] for was much better than what we were thinking we were going to be doing," said Carlie Febo. "It is getting much higher and more competitive."