A report from Zillow shows increased interest in metros with the highest share of vacation homes and higher pending sales growth than the nation at large. Additionally, Zillow data shows a rise in page views of for-sale listings which is up 50% from 2019. That's not all, pending sales in more than 50% of vacation-home markets have increased at least 30% from 2019, compared to 22.2% of pending sales nationwide.
According to the report, vacation metros seeing an uptick in demand include the Jersey Shore area, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Key West, Florida; Lake Tahoe, Nevada; Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Park City, Utah.
"As millions of office workers transitioned to working from home during the pandemic, many of them reconsidered where they might like to live now that the commute no longer mattered," said Zillow senior economist Jeff Tucker. "Vacation towns beckoned to many buyers, offering natural amenities like proximity to the ocean and mountains, along with robust retail and restaurant industries to serve traditional seasonal visitors. It's too early to tell how many of these new vacation town home buyers are moving permanently or planning to return after the pandemic -- they may not even know yet themselves -- but owning a second home in a traditional vacation area provides a lot of long-term flexibility."
Zillow also reported that newly pending home sales are up in 90% of the markets analyzed and half of those markets are up by at least 30%. According to the report, the ability to work remotely has given buyers added confidence in purchasing a home or at least thinking of purchasing a home in more desired areas.
"Since I can successfully work remotely, I wanted to live in a place where I can disconnect after work," said Emily Rush, a 27-year-old project manager for a market research firm near Philadelphia, who purchased her first home in Ocean City, Maryland. "I feel more relaxed near the water and that's allowed me to have a better work-life balance while working from home. It also felt like a safe investment because if I eventually return to the city, I will still have a great rental property or vacation home."
Click here to learn more about why interest in vacation homes are on the rise despite the pandemic.
