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| LIFE IN SOLERA | FEBRUARY 2024 | 11 According to newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of people who moved between states rose from approximately 7.9 million in 2021 to approximately 8.2 million in 2022. Evidence from domestic moves which don't include moves from abroad allow us to identify popular markets and why people move there. Affordability issues and the ability to work remotely drove Americans to move to neighboring or cheaper states. Florida and Texas were leading with the highest migration gains that year. Domestic net migrations were mainly affected by populations, affordability, employment opportunities and building permits. Most Americans chose to move to a state where they could afford to purchase a home, even if that meant fewer employment opportunities. Nine out of 50 states including D.C. had an outbound rate higher than 50 percent. Outbound rate is defined as the number of people moving out of a state as a share of the state's total number of movers. At the top of the list were large states like New York (64.41 percent), California (63.22 percent), New Jersey (60.41 percent) and Illinois (60.11 percent). New Yorkers moved to warmer states like Florida or more affordable states where they can still commute to work, like New Jersey. In contrast, Californians moved to the states where the tech industry has been booming since the pandemic, like Texas and Arizona. People from New Jersey and Illinois moved to either Florida or their neighboring states. Analysis shows that more affordable housing is the most important factor in peoples' decision to move. Results show an inverse relationship between a state's net migration and the number of jobs created in the same year. is could mean that people are willing to give up on employment opportunities when they move to a new state. States that created more jobs in 2022 saw more outbound migrations, notably California, New York, Illinois and Pennsylvania. ere are exceptions, like Florida and Texas, which had higher net migration and many newly-created jobs. What matters to movers the most is housing affordability in the destination state. States with a higher median property value — Hawaii ($846,470), California ($740,140) and D.C. ($722,318) — experienced net migration losses with California losing the most people that year. is indicates that people are willing to compromise on employment opportunities to move to a place where they can afford to buy housing. Source: www.nar.realtor.com, November 2023 REAL ESTATE REPORT ECONOMISTS' OUTLOOK Recent State-To-State Migration Trends By Glenn and Nona Bradd, Associate Brokers and Residents

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