Wealthy out-of-staters have been flocking to Florida for five years, driving up real-estate prices and reshaping the housing market.
While many Florida homeowners have been cashing in on the rise in home values, an unintended consequence is that locals feel that the state is becoming unaffordable.
Many are eyeing a move to nearby states — where the cost of life is cheaper, the pace of life is slower, and they're still only a weekend drive away from family in Florida, Holly Meyer Lucas, a Palm Springs and Jupiter real-estate advisor, told Insider.
Florida homeowners were happy to make the million-dollar profits selling to wealthy families from New York and California, Meyer Lucas said. But people now are taking these profits "out-of-state along with the people who are teachers, cops, and firefighters," Meyer Lucas said.
"They're moving to the Carolinas, moving to Alabama. They're moving to Georgia."
Some who have looked to return to Florida have found they can't afford to live there anymore. "What's happening is if they want to come back to our area, their $800 a month mortgage is not an option anymore," she said. "They must pay nearly $4,000 monthly to rent the same type of home."
Realtor.com data shows that Floridians are looking at homes in Georgia the most, as well as other surrounding Southern states. However, they're also peeking north to New York, and west to Texas.
Below are the top seven states Floridians searched for homes between July and October, according to Realtor.com. Insider also included the typical home price as of September according to Redfin, as well as official census migration data as of 2021.