SEMINOLE, Fla. — Florida came in second on the 2023 U-Haul Growth Index. It tracks movers to a state based on one-way equipment rentals.

The Sunshine State came in behind Texas for the third year in a row.

What You Need To Know

  • U-Haul's latest growth index ranked Texas, Florida and North Carolina as the top states people moved to in 2023

  • The growth index tracks one-way trips for U-Haul's moving equipment

  • A Seminole-based broker associate says Tampa Bay began seeing an increase in people moving in from out of state during the pandemic

  • The business climate and variety of neighborhoods are among the factors that may be drawing people to the area

Alisha Harris said she understands the appeal.

“Florida’s where you get to have it all,” she said. “You get the nice weather. I think there’s a lot more opportunities, too, for work.”

Harris recently bought a house in Largo, and she and her family plan to move there later this year from Nassau, N.Y. She said they’ve visited the area for years and already own investment properties.

“It is very exciting because we feel like we’ve been going down there and investing so much and providing beautiful homes for everybody else to enjoy. So, finally we have one for ourselves we can call our own.”

According to U-Haul, the growth index is put together based on more than 2.5 million one-way U-Haul truck, trailer and U-Box moving container transactions in the U.S. and Canada every year. It said Florida has been a top-four state on the list for nine years and even topped it in 2019.

Cyndee Haydon, a broker associate with Future Home Realty’s Sandbars to Sunsets team, said Tampa Bay began seeing a spike in out-of-state buyers coming to the region during the pandemic.

“I think that what people found is we have a great airport. We have, compared to other places, easy traffic, easy to navigate. We have a quieter kind of lifestyle,” said Haydon, who also cites the business climate and variety of neighborhoods as draws. “So, all those things, I think, found a place for people with different budgets, different lifestyles.”

There have been ups and downs with home sales in general.

According to statistics from the Pinellas Realtor Organization, single family home sales were down 13.1% in both Pinellas and Hillsborough counties and down 5.8% in Pasco County as of November when comparing that rolling 12-month period to the previous one. PRO said extremely low levels of inventory led to fewer closed sales, and Haydon said rising interest rates also played a part.

“I think we really saw the back half of 2022 when interest rates started inching up, we went all of a sudden from three to five and then around seven. I think that caused a lot of pause,” she said. “What we really saw, maybe what’s impacting that, is the new construction really kind of sold itself out. So, some of those numbers that were coming in on the northern parts, they weren’t there. The inventory was bought. So, there’s this pause in between all of this trying to figure out what’s next. I do think that people are getting their confidence back, as far as those that paused. They’re like, ‘OK, interest rates are going in the right direction, now would be the time.’”

PRO said inventory has increased during the past year and demand has continued. Looking to the future, Haydon said the nation is experiencing the largest bubble of home buyers since the baby boom.

“The average home buyer, the first time, is 34. We have 50 million people aged 28 to 38, and so it is bigger than the boomers. So, those people have been really kind of, between the interest rates and the cost and affordability, been on the sidelines. The governor and the state legislature continues to put more money on down payment assistance and make those housing dreams a reality. We know that’s generational wealth, and it makes all the difference in the future,” Haydon said.

According to PRO, the region is still in need of more housing supply, and homeownership affordability for the workforce is a concern for membership.