A greater percentage of house hunters than ever before are looking to relocate to a different part of the country, according to a new survey from the real estate web site Redfin. A record 25.4% of potential home buyers were looking to live in a different metro area in May — up from 23% a year earlier and less than 20% before the COVID pandemic.

What You Need To Know

  • 25.4% of potential home buyers were looking to live in a different metro area in May, according to Redfin

  • Phoenix, Las Vegas and Miami are the most popular destinations

  • Remote work and high housing costs in coastal cities are driving interest in lower-cost areas

  • All three of the top relocation cities face worsening climate risks, according to the report

Phoenix, Las Vegas and Miami were the most popular destinations for people who have been priced out of the housing market in their current living areas due to rapidly increasing home prices and mortgage rates. Redfin noted that all three of the top areas for relocation searches face worsening climate risks including heat, drought and flooding.

Released Wednesday, the report comes as temperatures in Phoenix are projected to hit 116 degrees this weekend. Earlier this month, Arizona said it would stop issuing homebuilding permits in the Phoenix metropolitan area because of a lack of water.

About 25% of the homes in Las Vegas are at risk of wildfire, according to the ClimateCheck web site, while the number of hot days in Sin City is also projected to increase, from 7 days above 109.2 degrees each year to 36 days by 2050.

Miami’s most likely climate risk is sea level rise. More than half of the area is at six feet or less above sea level and is at risk if the sea rises three to eight feet over the next century, as predicted by the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact.

“Climate risks haven’t yet stopped many homebuyers from moving into areas that don’t have enough water, like Phoenix, and places that could eventually be underwater, like coastal Florida,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said in a statement. “That’s because even though Sun Belt home prices soared during the pandemic, those metros remain a bargain for people relocating from expensive coastal cities.”

A typical home in Phoenix costs $450,000 and is the top choice for home buyers from Seattle, where the median home price is $800,000. A typical home in Las Vegas costs $405,000 and is the top choice for home buyers from Los Angeles, where the median price is $950,000. Miami, where the median home price is $560,000, is the top choice for home buyers from New York, where the median price is $820,000.

Redfin researchers based their analysis on 2 million web site searches of homes for sale in more than 100 metro areas between March and May. Remote work is the primary driver of the increase in out-of-town home-buying searches, Redfin said.