19% of House Hunters Are Wanting To Move– And They’re Headed to the Sun Belt

• Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. home hunters aimed to transfer to a different metro location in the very first quarter, up somewhat from a year previously.
• Florida, Las Vegas and Phoenix are the most popular destinations, with many movers chasing price and sunlight.
• New York City, Seattle, Los Angeles and other expensive cities top the list of locations people are leaving; when people leave those locations, they typically go to warm Sun Belt locations.

Approximately one in 5 (19.1%) U.S. house hunters looked to move from one part of the country to another in the very first quarter. That’s up somewhat from 18.9% a year earlier and the highest share in records going back to 2021.

This is from a Redfin analysis of Redfin.com property buyers and tenants browsing outside their home metro area. A Redfin.com user counts as a migrant if they viewed at least 20 for-sale homes in an origin-destination set in the relevant month. Please see completion of this report for more on approach.

A record part of Americans are seeking to move partially because of price pressures. Housing expenses are near record highs due to the fact that home mortgage rates and list price remain stubbornly high, and inflation is pushing up the expense of living for other everyday expenses. That’s encouraging people to move from expensive areas to more economical areas. Orlando, FL, for instance, is the most popular destination for transferring home hunters. The typical Orlando home costs just over $400,000, roughly half the cost of the common home in New York, the most typical origin for individuals moving there.

Furthermore, remote work stays much more typical than it was before the pandemic, enabling more Americans to move for cost or way of life reasons without altering tasks.

Another aspect is boomerang migration. Some Americans are moving away from places they transferred to throughout the pandemic. For instance, about 1,700 more individuals left Charlotte, NC than relocated throughout the first quarter, compared to a net inflow of about 3,200 5 years earlier. Austin, TX lost about 300 more homeowners than it acquired throughout the very first quarter, compared to a net inflow of 14,000 five years previously.

Keep in mind that while the share of house hunters aiming to transfer has actually risen to a record high, that does not suggest the number of relocators is at a record high. General homebuying activity is slow, so the overall variety of migrants is likely lower than it was back in 2021 or 2022, when a smaller sized share of a larger pool of buyers was looking to transfer.

Florida Dominates List of Most Popular Destinations

Orlando, FL was the most popular location for relocating home hunters in the first quarter. It’s followed by 3 other Florida cities: North Port, Miami and Cape Coral. Tampa came in sixth, after Las Vegas. Appeal is identified by net inflow, a measure of how many more Redfin.com users wanted to move into an area than leave.

Half of the most popular destinations are in Florida, and all are reasonably budget friendly, especially compared to the places people are most commonly leaving. All of the most popular locations are in the Sun Belt, and all have warm, sunny weather condition.

Florida Redfin agents say that the Sunlight State has constantly brought in a great deal of people from the north, specifically retired people, who move in for the warm weather condition and beachy lifestyle. More just recently, they say there has been an uptick in individuals relocating to Florida for task chances. The state’s ‘Area Coast’, for example, is home to stations of business like SpaceX and Blue Origin that draw in a lot of engineers and other tech employees from locations like Seattle and California.

Keep in mind that while Florida is popular with relocators, motion into the Sunshine State has slowed over the last a number of years. Miami had a net inflow of 6,576 in the first quarter, down from over 28,000 in 2022. In North Port, about 7,000 more individuals moved in than out in the first quarter, below about 10,000 in 2022. A current Redfin analysis reveals that Americans are increasingly leaving flood-prone parts of the country, consisting of several coastal Florida counties.

While remote work is still more common than prior to the pandemic, many staff members have actually been called back to the workplace, putting a damper on movement from places like New York to Florida.

Relocators Are Leaving Expensive Big Cities

U.S. home hunters are leaving New york city, Seattle and Los Angeles more than any other significant metro. That’s based on net outflow, a step of how many more Redfin.com users are aiming to leave a city than relocation in.

Next come 3 other significant task centers: The Bay Location, Washington, D.C. and Chicago. Expensive coastal cities and work centers typically top the list of locations individuals leave as they go after affordability in other parts of the nation. Home hunters leaving Seattle, for example, frequently seek out Phoenix, where purchasing a home costs about half the price.

Home hunters are most typically leaving big-city job centers, however migration out of those places has actually slowed over the last 5 years. Take New York as an example: Roughly 28,000 more individuals sought to leave than in throughout the very first quarter, down from 46,000 in 2022. The Bay Area had a net outflow of around 23,000, below 74,000 in 2022.

Florida Is Top State For Moving House Hunters

At the state level, Florida was the most popular destination for moving house hunters in the 4th quarter. Although migration into several Florida city is slowing, the Sunshine state still attracts more Redfin.com home searchers than Arizona, South Carolina and Tennessee– the next-most popular locations– combined.

Next come two other Sun Belt states: Nevada and Texas.

Individuals are leaving California more than any other state. The Golden State’s net outflow is two times as big as that of New York, the No. 2 state on the list.

Next come three northern job centers: Illinois, Washington and Massachusetts.

Methodology

This is from a Redfin analysis of Redfin.com users– both property buyers and renters– browsing outside their home city location.

Our migration analysis is based upon Redfin.com users searching for homes throughout more than 100 metro areas in the U.S. For this analysis, a metro location is specified at the Combined Statistical Location (CSA) level, that includes several Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). The analysis is from January 2021 to March 2026.

We determine possible migrants as users who look for homes outside their present metro area. A Redfin.com user must view at least 20 for-sale or for-rent homes in a location metro throughout a one-month duration to be counted as aiming to relocate there.

If a user views homes in several metros, we proportionally assign their migration based upon search activity. For instance, if a Seattle-based user views 40 homes– 20 in Phoenix and 20 in San Diego– they count as half a migrant to Phoenix and half to San Diego. This method allows us to measure both the volume and instructions of migration interest throughout the nation.

Keep in mind that this data can consist of people searching for vacation homes and/or financial investment residential or commercial properties outside their home city area.