‘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. County | Parent 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, CA | 16% | 80% | 16 | -31 | 42% |
| Deschutes County, OR | Bend, OR | 18% | 54% | 17 | -22 | 34% |
| Ocean County, NJ (Jersey Shore) | New Brunswick, NJ | 23% | 36% | 28 | -31 | 35% |
| Barnstable County, MA (Cape Cod) | Barnstable Town, MA | 19% | 51% | 33 | -33 | 26% |
| Fairfield County, CT | Bridgeport, CT | 33% | 80% | 63 | -15 | 30% |
| Essex County, NJ | Newark, NJ | 23% | 37% | 35 | -22 | 57% |
| Monmouth County, NJ (Jersey Shore) | New Brunswick, NJ | 23% | 52% | 25 | -18 | 33% |
| Riverside County, CA (Palm Springs) | Riverside, CA | 15% | 27% | 37 | -20 | 44% |
| Cape May County, NJ (Jersey Shore) | Ocean City, NJ | 21% | 33% | 56 | -28 | 21% |
| Placer County, CA (Lake Tahoe) | Sacramento, CA | 7% | 54% | 17 | -17 | 46% |
Here are the bottom 10 markets:
| U.S. County | Parent 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, NY | 3% | -34% | 72 | -1 | 13% |
| Kings County, NY (Brooklyn) | New York, NY | 6% | -46% | 111 | 12 | 11% |
| Bronx County, NY (The Bronx) | New York, NY | 4% | -19% | 59 | -5 | 16% |
| Miami-Dade County, FL | Miami, FL | 15% | 7% | 76 | 6 | 11% |
| Suffolk County, MA | Boston, MA | 3% | 19% | 23 | -6 | 37% |
| San Francisco County, CA | San Francisco, CA | -3% | 62% | 31 | 5 | 48% |
| Randolph County, NC | Greensboro, NC | 5% | 12% | 40 | -2 | 30% |
| Faulkner County, AR | Little Rock, AR | 9% | 17% | 46 | 6 | 16% |
| Winnebago County, IL | Rockford, IL | 5% | 6% | 12 | -9 | 26% |
| Hudson County, NJ | New York, NY | 3% | 8% | 49 | -17 | 24% |
“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.”