What U.S. Regions Are Investment Property Hotspots?

An analysis of Google data by Ruby Home Luxury Real Estate has found that the Midwest state of Wisconsin was the state where property investment is proving most popular, topping the list for real estate investment-related searches.

The study compared the monthly traffic of popular real estate investment-related terms across all 50 states. Search volume was then adjusted according to the population to determine the search volume per 100,000 residents to reveal the state most interested in property investment.

In this study, the Badger State has the highest calculated search volume in the nation, per 100,000 citizens, of 459.4 on average. Many will hope that the interest in real estate will be positive, with Forward Analytics, a Wisconsin-based research organization, reporting that within this decade, “Wisconsin will need to build nearly 140,000 housing units to accommodate its population under the age of 65.“

"The diversity of property investment interest across different U.S. states is remarkable,” said the study. “Our analysis shows that Wisconsin leads in overall search volume per 100,000 residents, highlighting a robust curiosity and active engagement among its citizens in property investment. This interesting analysis provides valuable insights into the American public's evolving perspective on real estate investment and perhaps their place within it.”

Ranking second was the state of Georgia, as The Peach State showed a strong interest in property investment, with an average Google search volume of 428 per 100,000 residents, the second highest in the nation. Among the top 10 ranked states in this analysis, Georgia has the highest Google searches per 100,000 citizens for “How to invest in real estate.”

Claiming the third spot was the Buckeye State of Ohio, where the study recorded an average of 424.2 monthly Google searches per 100,000 citizens toward real estate investing-related search terms. The most popular search term in Ohio is “Foreclosed homes for sale,” with approximately 60% of the average monthly Google searches analyzed in this state dedicated to this term. This could signify an increased interest in “house flipping,” which is the practice of buying short-term investment properties cheaply, refurbishing them, and selling them at a profit.

Coming in fourth in the study was Illinois, garnering a strong Google search volume, with 417.6 searches per 100,000 residents dedicated to real estate investing terms. Of the top 10 states, Illinois has the highest Google searches per 100,000 citizens for “rental property investment.” This data indicates that the citizens of Illinois hold a keen interest in the real estate investing market.

Rounding out the top five was the Great Lakes State of Michigan, reporting a Google search volume of 417.5 per 100,000 citizens dedicated to real estate investment terms on average each month. Among the terms analyzed, Michigan's most searched-for term on Google was “foreclosed homes for sale,” as foreclosed homes are typically priced lower than market value, making them a more affordable investment and more attractive option to first-time investors.

The remainder of the 10 top reported was as follows:

• Indiana in sixth, with 413.9 property investment-related Google searches per 100,000 citizens
• Minnesota in seventh, with 403.3 Google searches dedicated to property investment-related terms per 100,000 citizens
• North Carolina in eighth, with 389.8 average monthly Google searches per 100,000 residents.
• Pennsylvania in ninth, with 378 average monthly Google searches per 100,000 residents.
• And California rounding out the top 10, with 376.4 average monthly Google searches per 100,000 residents.

The report found that of all the states ranked in the top 10, Pennsylvania has the highest search volume for “Real Estate for Sale” and “Real Estate Education.” California reported the highest search volume for “How to Invest in Property.”

“Despite significant variations in population size, property investment remains a consistently popular topic across the country, as reflected in the steady search volumes for real estate-related terms," said a spokesperson from Malibu real estate.

For the study, Google Keyword Planner data was taken for a range of real-estate investment-based search terms for each U.S. state. The average monthly search volume of each search term within that state was aggregated to return the “Total Average Monthly Search Volume,” which was then divided by the state's population/100,000 to produce the searches per 100,000 citizens, and this was then ranked. Population data was taken from the latest available U.S. Census data.