BREVARD COUNTY, Fla — Florida’s Space Coast is the most highly searched real estate area on Trulia.com according to a press release from that real estate listing website.

The list released yesterday of the latest findings from its Metro Movers Report – the first housing report that starts with where homebuyers and renters are today and provides the inside scoop on where they want to live tomorrow.

The metro area of Palm Bay – Melbourne – Titusville was the number one searched area in the country.

The Winter 2012 report examines all property searches on Trulia.com among all U.S. metropolitan areas between October 1 and December 31, 2011.

Of the top 10 metros where demand among online house hunters is strongest, seven are located in the Sunshine state.  Even with a backlog of homes unable to complete the foreclosure process, big price declines mean more people are looking to move to Florida than leave.

As for who is looking at Florida, there are clear geographic preferences between house hunters in New York and Chicago.  New York is the top source of long distance (100 miles or more) home searches for properties along the Atlantic coast and Central Florida (e.g., Lakeland-Winter Haven, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach).  Meanwhile, more searches for Gulf Coast homes (e.g., North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota and Cape Coral) come from Chicago than from anywhere else.