The pandemic has made Americans more interested in buying a second home. Online search traffic for vacation homes has reached a five-year high, according to a recent analysis by Point2Homes.com. Searches for houses for sale in popular second-home spots such as Big Sky, Mont., and Fort Bragg, N.C., are up 177% and 143% year over year, respectively.
Interest in second homes has more than doubled over 2019, according to Point2Homes.com. Google search terms like “buying a 2nd/second home” or “buying a vacation home” have significantly climbed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. These search terms jumped 235% and 103% year over year in July and August, respectively.
Interest has particularly taken off in luxury destinations, Point2Homes.com notes in its study. Places such as Lake Tahoe, Calif.; Nantucket and Cape Cod, Mass.; and Jackson Hole, Wyo., are all seeing surging interest among buyers and are trending in Google searches.
“With interest rates on the floor and work-from-home slowly becoming work-from-anywhere, buying a second home or a vacation home makes more sense than ever,” Point2Homes.com notes in its study, tracking Google search trends. “As families have been forced to spend so much time within the four walls of their urban dwelling, vacation homes are becoming the best way to escape the pandemic-ravaged city life.”
Source: “Demand for Vacation Homes Reaches 5-Year High,” Point2Homes.com (Sept. 30, 2020)
