Report: 2 Gulf Coast metros among top for migrating house hunters

Cape Coral-Fort Myers and North Port-Sarasota are among the top five regions in the country where house hunters are looking to relocate, according to a new report from Redfin.

The top origin for those searching homes in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers and North Port-Sarasota areas was the same: Chicago, according to Redfin. (The full, official MSA is North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton.) 

In general, the tech-driven real estate company found that the number of house hunters searching to move to a different part of the country is on the rise. About 18.8% of house hunters were searching out of state in the fourth quarter of 2025, up from 17.9% the year before and 15.9% in 2020.

Overall, Florida was the most popular state for relocating house hunters in the fourth quarter, attracting double the number of Redfin home searchers compared with South Carolina and Arizona — the second and third most popular states, respectively — according to the report.

Here are the top 10 metro areas Redfin says its website users were searching in the fourth quarter of 2025:

1. Sacramento
2. Las Vegas
3. Cape Coral-Fort Myers
4. North Port-Sarasota
5. Miami
6. Orlando
7. Spokane, Washington
8. Boise, Idaho
9. Myrtle Beach
10. San Antonio 

Although many looking to relocate states were considering Florida in the fourth quarter of 2025, Redfin reports that the “boomtimes” of 2021 and 2022 have cooled.

“Florida is home to the lion’s share of the top 10 most popular migration destinations,” the report says, “but movement into the Sunshine State has slowed over the last several years as the pandemic moving frenzy wanes.”