(NewsNation) — Florida, once a popular destination for retirees craving warm weather, is becoming more expensive to live in, leading some to go to Alabama instead, according to a new report by The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal profiled a couple, Minnesotans John Fox and Louise Turkula, who, instead of going to Jacksonville or Naples, Florida, like the rest of their friends, decided to buy a four-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot house in Alabama. Ultimately, Fox and Turkula spent $955,000 on a coastal home in Baldwin County on the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Journal.
Lawanna Sharpless, the couple’s real estate agent, said there’s a reason homebuyers are choosing the Alabama county over popular areas in Florida: “It’s more affordable,” she said, adding, “You just get a bigger bang for your buck here.” Young professionals, according to Ken H. Johnson, an economist at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, are pricing older Americans out of South Florida.
Another factor, Fortune reports, is the amount of wealthy and ultrawealthy households coming into Florida that end up driving up housing costs. According to the publication, over the last five years, home prices in Florida increased by 73.5%.
Home prices in Florida, Redfin data shows, were up by 3.2% in March year over year, selling for a median price of $400,200. An average home, meanwhile, in Baldwin County cost $355,000 in the same month.
Prices in general are also up in Florida — for Tampa alone, prices went up 7.7% over the past 12 months, outpacing the national average, per a March report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Florida did still make WalletHub’s list of best states to retire in January — but in affordability, Alabama was number one, while the Sunshine State was ninth.