More American homebuyers headed south in 2018 than to anywhere else in the United States.
Among the southern states, Florida emerged as the No. 1 destination for people who moved from one state to another with the intention of buying a home, according to an analysis from Lending Tree. The online marketplace found that 12.4 percent of the people who hired professionals to move them out of state were Florida-bound.
Lending Tree looked at 2 million new mortgage loan requests in all 50 states in 2018, and discovered that among the 12.1 percent of homebuyers nationwide who changed states, most went south. Nine percent of all mortgage requests were for Florida.
Other popular southern states for homebuyers on the move included South Carolina, Delaware, Georgia and North Carolina.
South Dakota, Hawaii, Minnesota, California and New York were among the states with the fewest home mortgage requests in 2018.
Homebuyers in Texas were in no rush to permanently cross state lines last year. Over 93 percent of Texans looking to take out a mortgage for a home were staying in the Lone Star State. Texas was also a top destination for people moving from out of state, placing second behind Florida.
Michigan was also a state with a high number of homebuyers who didn't want to move too far away. More than 91 percent of its residents who requested a mortgage wanted to remain in the Midwestern state.
People in Alaska were the least likely to stay put in 2018. Alaska had the lowest percentage of homebuyers who moved within the state. Washington state was the top destination for homebuyers who left Alaska.