Report: Sarasota ranked among top 10 metros where homebuyers want to move

It must be a day that ends in the letter Y, as the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metro area once again finds itself atop a national list related to real estate — this time from the real estate website Redfin.com.

The local metro area landed at sixth among the nation's top 10 metros where homebuyers are moving.

The list is ranked by "net inflow."

Redfin described "net inflow" as the number of Redfin.com home searchers who sought information on moving to a particular metro, minus the number of searchers looking to leave that metro.

The Sarasota area metro had a 2023 "net inflow" of 4,700, compared to 5,900 in 2022.

Redfin attributes less net inflow this year — experienced across most metro areas — to increased interest rates that have caused mortgage rates to spike in 2023.

Sarasota and Manatee counties make up the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metro area, with about 830,000 residents combined.

The five metro areas placing ahead of Sarasota-Manatee were Sacramento, California, with a metro population of about 2.4 million and a Redfin net inflow of 4,800; Orlando, with a metro population of 2.5 million and a Redfin net inflow of 4,900; Tampa, with a metro population of about 3.2 million and a Redfin net inflow of 5,000; Phoenix, Arizona, with a metro population of about 4.9 million and a Redfin net inflow of 5,300; and Las Vegas, Nevada, at No. 1, with a metro population of about 2.9 million and a net inflow of 5,700.

The Cape Coral metro area, with a Redfin net inflow of 4,100, came in at number seven on the list.

Interestingly, the Redfin data also included the city where the most searches originated. For Tampa, Orlando and the Sarasota area metros, New York City was the top spot for people searching the local real estate market looking to move.

Cape Coral's top city where people were seeking to move from was Chicago.

Within the last several weeks, the Sarasota area has made several lists compiled by various sources. Local master-planned communities posted strong sales so far in 2023, according to the mid-year report from a real estate consulting firm that has tracked the fastest growing communities in the country for nearly three decades.

Lakewood Ranch remained the fastest selling multigenerational master-planned community in the United States, posting 1,227 sales through the first six months, according to national real estate consulting firm RCLCO.

Daytime television show "The Today Show" in July named Sarasota as the second-ranked place to live in the U.S. According to the July 10 ranking, released by Frances Katzen, a real estate broker with Douglas Elliman, Sarasota ranks just behind Round Rock, Texas, a suburb of Austin, for the most growth and is one of the top five "booming" cities in the United States this year.

A recent ranking released by national moving and storage company PODS has ranked Sarasota near the top of its 2023 list of the top 20 cities where people are moving across the country.

Sarasota ranked as the second most moved-to city in the United States, one slot lower than its first-place finish on the 2022 list of cities where people relocated. Based on PODS customer moves in 2022, Sarasota had the highest growth rate in Florida and the entire country, and that trend continued into 2023, the company's data shows.

A leading real estate data and analytics company also identified several Florida areas as the "top markets at risk of home price decline," including the North Port-Sarasota-Manatee metro area.

The most recent report examining May data was released last week showing home prices increased by 1.4% compared to May 2022.

While the report notes that May was the 136th consecutive month of year-over-year home price growth in the United States' residential real estate market, it was the lowest increase in prices since May 2012.

The report identified the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metro area as one of five markets where the likelihood of home price decline was rated "very high" over the next 12 months.

The other five markets identified as having a very high risk of price declines were Provo-Orem, Utah, followed by four Florida markets: Lakeland-Winter Haven, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Cape Coral-Fort Myers and Port St. Lucie.

Recent real estate articles: Report: Four Florida markets named as 'at risk for home price decline'

More: Strong sales put Florida master-planned communities in top ranks in nation

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota near top of another real estate list of places people want to move