Home buyers are heading south

The majority of out-of-state U.S. home buyers are looking to move south, according to LendingTree's State Migration study.

From October 2016 to October 2017, Florida was the most popular destination, with home buyers from 18 of 50 states favoring the Sunshine State. Of all purchase mortgage requests over the past year, 9.14% were for consumers looking to move to Florida.

Texas had the highest percentage of residents looking to stay within the state rather than move out of it. About 92.5% of requests made for purchase mortgages by individuals in Texas were for properties within the state. Michigan came second to Texas in highest percentage of residents looking to remain in-state.

Vermont has the most residents looking to move out

Of all states, Vermont had the most residents looking to move out. Only 75.93% of purchase mortgage requests made by Vermont residents were for properties within the state.

More than half of U.S. residents only looked to move to bordering states for their new destination. But, of all new destinations that were not for bordering states, 16 were for Florida.

LendingTree's findings were based on a review of purchase mortgage loan requests for primary residences of all 50 states throughout the course of the year.

When analyzed by population, South Carolina scored as the highest destination state, as requests for mortgage loans from out-of-state movers were 56% greater than suggested by its share of the national population, according to LendingTree. Other popular states included Florida, Delaware, North Carolina and Georgia, exposing a Southern tilt in out-of-state home buyer preferences.

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