The Top 10 Cities Attracting Out-of-Town Homebuyers Right Now

Homebuyers are feeling especially migratory right now. As folks jostle for the slim pickings available on the real estate market, lots of people are searching far from home.

A report out Wednesday from real estate company Redfin shows that a record number of potential homebuyers are looking to buy a new place outside of their current towns. And many of the most sought-after destinations are, unsurprisingly, sunny.

Redfin’s report covers the search results of 2 million users between May and July. It found that 25.8% of potential homebuyers are looking for houses in markets outside of their hometowns — a record-high since the company began charting this data in 2017.

Desired locales for these would-be homebuyers tend toward the warm and affordable, with most of the top metropolitan areas located in the southern or western United States.

Here’s the list of the most popular cities for relocations right now:

1. Las Vegas, Nevada
2. Sacramento, California
3. Orlando, Florida
(tie) 4. Tampa, Florida
(tie) 4. North Port-Sarasota, Florida
6. Cape Coral, Florida
(tie) 7. Dallas, Texas
(tie) 7. Phoenix, Arizona
9. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
10. Houston, Texas

Those looking to move away are coming from some of the country’s largest and most expensive metro areas, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City and Chicago. It comes as little surprise, then, that many of these large cities are seeing the highest concentration of outflows in the country. As home values reach their own all-time highs (and prepare to keep growing), those areas are likely to become even less affordable to the average homebuyer.

While lots of relocators are looking at the sunny cities listed above, most are moving to more affordable metro areas nearby. For example, Chicagoans are most popularly leaving for Milwaukee — about 90 miles away — and many Washington, D.C., residents are fleeing to Maryland suburbs.

Keep in mind

It’s worth noting that while the share of homebuyers seeking to relocate is at an all-time high, the actual number of people relocating is not. For example, Las Vegas saw a net inflow of 5,400 people in July 2023 but saw a net inflow of 6,500 in July 2022. That’s not a huge increase from year to year.

This is due largely to the unique situation the housing market finds itself in. With so little inventory, there are simply fewer people actively seeking to buy houses right now. But those who are don’t seem to be worried about staying local.