The great pandemic reshu🔜ffle, which sent work-at-home buyers searching for their ideal towns, is settling down, as high mortgage rates and home prices persuade more potentiaꦚl homebuyers to stay put for now.

The number of Americans looking to move to a different part of the co𒀰untry is down 6% from a year earlier. In 2022,🉐 the number of Americans looking to relocate increased to 23%. The decrease over the last year is a symbol of just how much the housing market has cooled.

The number is even lower for those who are looking to move within the town they already live in, a 17% drop from the year before. As fewer Americans look to sell and purchase homes are faced with higher mortgage rates and home prices, the overall homebuying pie is smaller than it was this time last year, according to a Redfin report.

Both figures have fallen over the last year as the number of homebuyers in the U.S. declines, with sales dropping 22% from a year earlier in April. Still, a record 25.2% of Redfin users nationwide are looking to relocate, up from 22.8% last year. Many buyers are looking to leave their hometown or move to more affordable areas, such as migration from Los Angeꦜles to Los Vegas or New York to T꧟ampa. 

High mortgage rates are less of a deterrent for those moving from more expensive areas to those with lower costs of living, the Redfin analysis found. For first-time buyer🦹s, lower costs of living in certain areas may even encourage moving to a different part of the country. 

Sun Belt Cities Attracting Out-of-State Buyers

Phoenix and Miami are the most popular destinations for homebuyers looking to relocate, followed by Las Vegas, Tampa and Orlando. Five of the top 10 destinations are in Florida, and nearly all of them are in the Sun Belt. Florida was the fastest growing state in 2022, with warm weather, affordable areas of the state and low taxes enticing those from out-of-state.

With remote work and continued rising costs in coastal cities like San Francisco, Seattle or New York, Sun Belt destinations have grown more popular since the pandemic. New York is the most common origin for homebuyers moving to top destinations in Flor🙈ida. 

But with fewer homebuyers in the market generally and lowered inventory, the net inflow of homebuyers into Miami, for instance, is about 7,500 today, down from nearly 13,000 a year ago. The net inflow into Tampa is about 6,000 now, compared with about 9꧃,000 a year ago, according to the report. 

“About half of the people buying homes here are from out of town, and some are able to pay cash,” said Orlando Redfin Premier agent Nicole Dege.  “That’s making it difficult for some locals to get their offers accepted, especially because many people have limited budgets due to high mortgage rates and there are so few homes coming on the market. Even though fewer people are coming in from out of town, there are also fewer homes for sale.”