Report: Homebuyers Look to Flee Blue States for Red States

Homebuyers in Democrat-run states are overwhelmingly searching to move to cities in red states, according to data analysis from Redfin real estate brokerage. 

Between January and March 2023, the top ten areas that homebuyers were looking to move from, ranked from most to least, were San Francisco, California; New York City, New York; Los Angeles, California; Washington, DC; Boston, Massachusetts; Louisville, Kentucky; Seattle, Washington; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; and Hartford Connecticut. Redfin’s migration analysis is based on a sample of two million Redfin.com users who search for homes across more than 100 metro areas. 

At the same time, cities in mostly Republican-led states were seeing an influx of interested homebuyers. Florida cities accounted for five of the top ten areas homebuyers are interested in, with Miami taking the lead, followed by Tampa, Orlando, Cape Coral, and Sarasota. The other five most popular cities were Phoenix, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; Sacramento, California, Dallas, Texas; and Houston, Texas.

Per the report:

Of all the major U.S. metros, Miami was the most searched for destination among homebuyers looking to relocate between Jan ’23 – Mar ’23. Next came Phoenix, Las Vegas, Tampa, and Orlando. San Francisco was the most searched for destination among homebuyers looking to leave, followed by New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Boston.

According to the brokerage, 25 percent of homebuyers nationwide searched to move to a different metro area during that same timeframe.

“The top five states homebuyers searched to move to were Florida, Texas, Arizona, Tennessee, and South Carolina, while California, New York, District Of Columbia, Massachusetts, and Illinois were the top five states homebuyers searched to move from,” according to the report. 

Redfin’s analysis is in line with data the United States Census Bureau released this month, showing how counties overlapping Democrat-run cities, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, topped the list of locales that have been losing population, while the biggest inflows of people have been to Arizona, Texas, and Florida.