5th Street SE, Ocala flat
When Taylor Swift sung about a timeshare down in Destin, she was talking about the Florida dream. Florida!!! Sunny skies and beautiful beaches. No one sings about moving to the swamps of Central Florida, there's no glamor in that. So why are so many new residents moving to Ocala?
Moving company PODS released an annual 'moving trends' blog, showing where in the country people are moving to. And they should know, they're the ones bringing people's stuff to the new location. According to their blog "This year’s PODS long-distance moving data reveals that movers are swapping out previously hot move-to markets like Florida and Texas for spots in Tennessee, the Carolinas, and Georgia."
Where Are People Moving To?
Here's a look at the top 5.
Rank / City
1 Myrtle Beach, SC/Wilmington, NC (1st in 2023)
2 Ocala, FL (4th in 2023)
3 Houston, TX (5th in 2023)
4 Greenville-Spartanburg, SC (10th in 2023)
5 Charlotte, NC (16th in 2023)
6 Raleigh, NC (20th in 2023)
7 Phoenix, AZ (18th in 2023)
8 Knoxville, TN (7th in 2023)
9 Jacksonville, FL (8th in 2023)
10 Asheville, NC (17th in 2023)
Moving To Ocala.
This is a huge change from 2023 when 5 of the top 10 were Florida destinations. Now we're seeing a lot of Carolinas. It could be that the rash of severe weather, escalating housing costs, and out of control insurance premiums have finally started to slow the exodus of people moving to Florida. Except for Ocala. The Florida city with a population nearing 70,000 actually moved up on the list.
But why? First of all, Ocala is nowhere near those beaches (about an hour drive from Daytona). And it's not really that close to Orlando's theme parks, either. What Ocala has is nature, parks, and lots of horses. And it's a lot cheaper to buy a house. According to Realtor.com, "The median listing home price in Ocala, FL was $279.9K in April 2024, trending down -6.7% year-over-year. " For comparison, the median listing price in Fort Myers is $399K. In Miami, it's $660K.
People moving to Ocala are also not as worried about hurricanes. Sure, it is possible. Irma came through there in 2017 and caused some power outages and some flooding, but by the time a hurricane makes it that far inland it's nowhere near as powerful as what those of us on the coast witness. Plus John Travolta lives there. He was amazing in Pulp Fiction.
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