Las Vegas ranks in top 5 for house-hunting searches across US, report says

Las Vegas is the fifth most searched metro area in the country right now, according to home searches on real estate website Redfin via its relocation methodology model.

Topping home searches for the first quarter of this year was Orlando, followed by North Port, Florida; Miami; Cape Coral, Florida; and Las Vegas. New York and Chicago made up most of the search origins for the Florida cities, and Los Angeles was the valley’s top search origin.

The top cities where people are looking to move out of, according to Redfin’s search model, are New York, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Jose. Florida tops the states where house hunters are most looking to relocate to, followed by Arizona, South Carolina and Tennessee. The states where house hunters are looking most to leave is California, followed by New York, Illinois and Washington.

Redfin’s report noted that out of state migratory interest has gone up again as the overall cost of living soars in specific areas across the country.

“A record portion of Americans are looking to relocate partly because of affordability pressures,” reads the report. “Housing costs are near record highs because mortgage rates and sale prices remain stubbornly high, and inflation is pushing up the cost of living for other everyday expenses. That’s motivating people to move from expensive areas to more affordable areas.”

Redfin noted the other part of the migratory trend is in respond to the pandemic’s long wake.

“Another factor is boomerang migration. Some Americans are moving away from places they moved to during the pandemic,” continues the report.

House hunting out of state has picked up lately as approximately one in five (19.1 percent) U.S. house hunters looked to move from one part of the country to another in the first quarter of this year, up slightly from 18.9 percent a year earlier and the highest share in records for Redfin dating back to 2021 during the height of the pandemic.

However, Redfin outlined that home searches don’t necessarily always add up to home purchases and actual relocation figures.

“Note that while the share of house hunters looking to relocate has risen to a record high, that doesn’t mean the number of relocators is at a record high,” explains the Redfin report. “Overall homebuying activity is sluggish, so the total number of migrants is likely lower than it was back in 2021 or 2022, when a smaller share of a larger pool of buyers was looking to relocate.”