‘Texans Love the Lone Star State,’ Says National Migration Study

LendingTree, billed as the nation’s leading online loan marketplace, released a year-long study on Monday that shows where residents in all 50 U.S. states look to buy homes as part of an out-of-state move. Texas scored well.

In examining these home mortgage migration trends, they discovered that Texas topped the list with the most residents who did not relocate to other states but instead sold an existing home to purchase another one within the state.

“Texans love the Lone Star State,” the North Carolina-based mortgage brokerage company noted in the report. “Texas had the highest percentage of residents looking to move within the state versus outside of the state.”

For the study, LendingTree analyzed all purchase mortgage loan requests nationwide from October 9, 2016 through October 9, 2017 to identify the most popular new destinations for residents in each state. Researchers found that 92.54 percent of Texas residents applied for home loans on in-state properties. Only 7.46 percent of Texans went to lenders to acquire residential properties in other states where they planned to reside.

Michigan ranked second to Texas with 90.82 percent of its residents moving within the state when swapping out houses. Here, 9.18 percent of residents pulled up stakes and applied for new mortgages outside the Great Lake State. Florida came in third, with 90.49 percent of its residents looking for new homes and mortgages within the state. The study revealed 9.51 percent of Floridians initiated the home loan process outside the state. In Ohio, 9.66 percent, and in Oklahoma, 9.68 percent, respective residents borrowed from lenders to buy out-of-state homes where they planned to move.

Florida lead the nation as the number one new destination for people in 18 states to relocate. LendingTree researchers noted that Florida “has a history of bringing in visitors and new residents, particularly retirees.” Most newbie Floridians hailed from the Northeastern seaboard and the Snow Belt, although some came from neighboring states. These states reflected Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

Texas placed second to Florida, with five states dominating the number of newcomers who financed homes through loans — Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. California and Washington ranked third and fourth on the list of hotspots. Fifth place resulted in a three-way tie between Maine, Minnesota, and North Carolina.

Breitbart Texas reported on a 2017 study by the Texas Association of Realtors showing Californians comprised the largest number of Texas transplants. In 2015, Texas gained more than 500,000 new residents from other states. While the majority of these new inhabitants relocated from the Golden State (65,546), others arrived from Florida (33,670), Louisiana (31,044), New York (26,287), and Oklahoma (25,555).

According to LendingTree, when Texans leave they likely purchase homes in Florida. Floridians tend to move to Georgia. Georgians bolt to Florida. Californians go to Nevada. Arizonians, Nevadans, and Utahns go to California. South Carolinians exit to North Carolina and North Carolinians wind up in South Carolina.

The study also mirrored U.S. Census Bureau net domestic migration findings that showed transplants largely gravitated to southern states. In May, Breitbart Texas reported the Bureau identified 10 of the 15 fastest-growing American cities with populations of 50,000 or more were in the South. These municipalities continue to grow at a faster rate than any other region in the country. Texas dominated four of the top five spots headed up by Conroe, a Houston suburb. Frisco and McKinney, north of Dallas, ranked second and third. Georgetown, an Austin suburb placed fifth. Greenville, South Carolina, took fourth place.

In “contrast to Texas,” LendingTree analysts dubbed Vermont the state with the lowest percent of residents interested in remaining. More than 24 percent of home loan requests came from Vermonters planning to move out-of-state. The other bottom four states where people wanted to leave were Hawaii, Alaska, North Dakota, and Wyoming.

Follow Merrill Hope, a member of the original Breitbart Texas team, on Twitter.