15 Cities Owned the Wild 2020 Market – 7 Were in Fla.

NEW YORK – In 2020, homebuyers left states with high taxes and pricey housing in favor of lower-cost metro areas, such as Florida, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, according to CoreLogic’s 2020 Hottest Cities for Homebuyers Report.

Of all those destinations, however, Florida stood out. Almost half of the “hot” 15 metro areas for 2020 are located in the Sunshine State.

“The pandemic created a perfect recipe for consistently employed Americans,” says Archana Pradhan, CoreLogic’s principal economist. “If it had been any other mix of events, for example, if low housing inventory was coupled with job inflexibility, we wouldn’t have had such a large group of home buying consumers feeling empowered to make bold moves in their living situations.”

The top 15 metros on CoreLogic’s hottest cities for homebuyers for 2020 tended to tout affordability with lower costs per square foot, lower property taxes and no state income taxes. And sunny climates that offer lots of outdoor amenities tended to be a big draw.

15 metros with the highest 2020 inbound migration

1. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.
2. Lakeland-Winter Haven
3. Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, S.C.-N.C.
4. Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nev.
5. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
6. Port St. Lucie
7. Jacksonville
8. San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas
9. Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach
10. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
11. Stockton, Calif.
12. Cape Coral-Fort Myers
13. Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, Ariz.
14. North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton
15. Greeley, Colo.

The cities with the highest outbound migrations in 2020 were New York-Newark-Jersey City, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim and San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley.

Source: “2020 CoreLogic Hottest Cities for Homebuyers Report,” CoreLogic (Aug. 4, 2021)