Based on new data from Zillow, the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic have spilled over to traditional vacation destinations in the United States, which are attracting increased interest from homebuyers as priorities and preferences shift. are transforming the place and the way people want to live.

Pageviews on Zillow of ads for sale up almost 50% from a year ago in metropolitan areas generally considered vacation destinations, defined as subways with at least 65,000 people and five times more of vacation homes than the United States as a whole. This is compared to a 37% increase in pageviews nationwide. Vacation subways that are seeing a surge in demand include places like the Jersey Shore area, Myrtle Beach, SC, Key West, Florida, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Park City, Utah.

Newly pending home sales are also on the rise in many of these vacation markets, with 90% of the markets analyzed seeing growth and half of at least 30% from last year. Places like Salisbury, Maryland (near Ocean City), Traverse City, Michigan, located along the shores of Lake Michigan, and Brainerd, Minnesota, a forest and lake region along the Mississippi River, were among the following areas this trend. These three areas have all seen an increase in pending sales year over year of over 30%.

“As millions of office workers switched to working from home during the pandemic, many of them reconsidered where they would like to live now that commute no longer mattered,” the senior economist said. from Zillow, Jeff Tucker. “Vacation towns have attracted many buyers, offering natural amenities such as proximity to the ocean and mountains, as well as strong retail and restaurant industries to serve traditional seasonal visitors. It is too early to know how many of these new resort home buyers are relocating permanently or planning to return after the pandemic - they may not even know it themselves yet - but own a second home in an area of ​​?? Traditional vacation offers great flexibility in the long run. "

It's not just pageviews and home sales growth that are on the rise in these hot vacation spots. Homes for sale on these subways also see more "favorites" on Zillow, which is a way for people to catalog the listings so they can find them or share them with someone later. Zillow's research has shown that highly saved homes sell faster and for more money.

Listings for homes for sale in Key West, for example, are registered 8.7 times more often than listings nationwide. At Hilton Head and the Poconos, listings show more than five times the typical share of favorites. The next four vacation areas with the highest share of favorites are all in Florida - Panama City, Naples, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, all of which see at least three times as many favorites as the country in general.

“The recent spike could be due to international travel restrictions and the ability to work and study from home,” said Tommy Mack, a Best of Zillow Premier agent at Coastal Collection Real Estate in the Florida Keys. "I have a lot of new clients who say they always wanted to move here and can now because of the changes in daily Covid life."

Vacation spots in the northeast are also heating up. Ocean City, NJ, on the Jersey Shore, has the highest share of vacation homes, at nearly 50%. It also sees more than twice the listing rate for favorites than the US average, and pending home sales are up 38.1%. East Stroudsburg, Pa., In the Poconos region and well known for its natural beauty, saw a 90% increase in pageviews - home values ​​are expected to rise 5.6% next year, from 4.9 % statewide. .

The ability to work remotely allowed Emily Rush, a 27-year-old project manager for a market research firm near Philadelphia, to purchase her first home in Ocean City, Maryland.

“I love the beach and would rather be here,” said Rush, who spent his summers vacationing in Ocean City. “Since I can work remotely successfully, I wanted to live in a place where I can disconnect after work. I feel more relaxed near the water and it has allowed me to have a better work-life balance while working from home. a safe investment because if I finally return to the city, I will always have a nice rental property or a vacation home. "

Proximity to a beach, lake, or ski area is a common theme among Top 5 Hottest Vacation Areas racking up Zillow Most Favorites including Cape Cod (# 2), Brainerd, Minn. (No.3), Park City, Utah (No.4) and Naples, Florida (No.5).