‘Zoom Towns’ Thrive As People Leave Cities

Vacation homes are becoming just … homes.

A new report released by Redfin on Wednesday found that popular second home destinations are becoming full-time residences for homebuyers – including the Jersey Shore, Cape Cod and Lake Tahoe.

The top 10 counties where the housing market is heating up the post are overwhelmingly dominated by vacation resorts, while a majority of the bottom 10 counties are home to dense, relatively expensive cities, including New York, San Francisco and Boston.

Here are the top 10 markets:

U.S. CountyParent Metro
Area
Median
Sale Price,
YoY
Change
Homes
Sold, YoY
Change
Median
Days on 
Market
Median Days
on Market YoY Change
Share
Homes  
Sold Above 
List Price
El Dorado
County, CA
(Lake Tahoe)
Sacramento, CA16%80%16-3142%
Deschutes
County, OR
Bend, OR18%54%17-2234%
Ocean County,
NJ (Jersey
Shore)
New Brunswick,
NJ
23%36%28-3135%
Barnstable
County, MA
(Cape Cod)
Barnstable Town,
MA
19%51%33-3326%
Fairfield
County, CT
Bridgeport, CT33%80%63-1530%
Essex County,
NJ
Newark, NJ23%37%35-2257%
Monmouth
County, NJ
(Jersey Shore)
New Brunswick,
NJ
23%52%25-1833%
Riverside
County, CA 
(Palm Springs)
Riverside, CA15%27%37-2044%
Cape May
County, NJ
(Jersey Shore)
Ocean City, NJ21%33%56-2821%
Placer County,
CA (Lake
Tahoe)
Sacramento, CA7%54%17-1746%

Here are the bottom 10 markets:

U.S. CountyParent Metro
Area
Median
Sale Price,
YoY
Change
Homes
Sold, YoY
Change
Median
Days on
Market
Median Days
on Market,
YoY Change
Share
Homes
Sold Above
List Price
Queens County,
NY (Queens)
New York, NY3%-34%72-113%
Kings County, 
NY (Brooklyn)
New York, NY6%-46%1111211%
Bronx County, 
NY (The Bronx)
New York, NY4%-19%59-516%
Miami-Dade
County, FL
Miami, FL15%7%76611%
Suffolk County,
MA
Boston, MA3%19%23-637%
San Francisco
County, CA
San Francisco,
CA
-3%62%31548%
Randolph
County, NC
Greensboro, NC5%12%40-230%
Faulkner
County, AR
Little Rock, AR9%17%46616%
Winnebago
County, IL
Rockford, IL5%6%12-926%
Hudson County,
NJ
New York, NY3%8%49-1724%

“I’ve never seen so many New York license plates at open houses in Monmouth County,” Jersey Shore Redfin real estate agent Anthony Gonzalez said. “City folks are coming to New Jersey with New York salaries, and they can get quite a deal here even though competition is fierce. One of my buyers recently lost out on a house because another bidder paid $75,000 over the asking price. Who does that? New Yorkers.”

In Deschutes County, Oregon, people are being drawn to millions of acres of national forest, and the vacation towns of Sunriver and Bend, the area is especially popular among hikers, bikers, fishermen, skiers and snowboarders, Redfin real estate agent Angelica Webb said.

“We’ve always described Bend as a second-home town, but now we’re seeing it transition into a place where more people are living full time because they’re no longer required to go into the office. We joke that it’s becoming a `Zoom town,’” Webb said. “A lot of folks are moving to Bend without having ever stepped foot here. They’ve heard good things and want to get out of their cramped San Francisco or Seattle apartments, so they’re coming here and buying awesome, 3,000-square-foot colonial homes.”