Resort Towns Are Becoming Permanent Destinations

Homebuyers Fleeing Big Cities During the Pandemic

Excerpts from an article Published on November 11, 2020 by Lily Katz 

The Jersey Shore, Bend, OR, Cape Cod and other vacation destinations are heating up as the coronavirus drives New Yorkers and San Franciscans to greener pastures.

Popular second-home destinations including the Jersey Shore, Cape Cod, Lake Tahoe, Palm Springs and Bend, OR are heating up and becoming full-time residences for homebuyers who have the luxury of working remotely as people leave New York and San Francisco during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Jersey Shore, a popular summer getaway for East Coasters, has also become a hotspot for families looking to escape big-city life during the pandemic. Three of the four New Jersey counties that ranked in the top 10—Ocean County, Monmouth County and Cape May County—are on the Jersey Shore.

“I’ve never seen so many New York license plates at open houses in Monmouth County,” said a local real estate agent. “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.”  

There are a lot of homebuyers coming to the Jersey Shore from Brooklyn, specifically.

“Where in Brooklyn can you find anything for $500,000? Nowhere,” Gonzalez said. “New York folks are coming to Jersey for a year or two, buying a house on the water and working from home at the Jersey Shore.”  

My note:

Ocean and Monmouth counties are facing a shortage of available housing for sale and have inflated prices over 20% and days on market average 28, which is over a 50% drop from one year ago. 35% of homes sold for over list price, making this one of the hottest sellers market in more than a decade.