Zillow has named South Lake Tahoe named as its most popular location of 2021. The destination led the pack across multiple categories, including the most popular vacation town, beach town, and small town.
The designation was based on an analysis of several factors, according to Zillow [1], encompassing thousands of ZIP codes scattered throughout the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas. Factors in consideration for the rankings included "page-view traffic, available housing inventory, price appreciation, and other housing barometers that indicate consumer demand."
"The most popular places on Zillow reflect a couple of trends we've been seeing throughout the pandemic," says Amanda Pendleton, Zillow's home trends expert. "People have turned to Zillow to escape and dream of the possibilities a move could bring. Meanwhile, those who can now work remotely, at least occasionally, are exploring new opportunities in areas that offer relative affordability and year-round outdoor living."
With "vacation-style living along the largest freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada," South Lake Tahoe received 5,469 page views per listing according to Zillow. The city also landed first place in Zillow's rankings of most popular small towns and vacation towns. Zillow also notes that the typical home value in South Lake Tahoe is $692,7922.
Other in-demand locales at the top of Zillow's list include Calabasas and Malibu, both of California. Here are some other key takeaways from Zillow's findings.
- Most popular beach town: Newport, Oregon - typical home value $428,534
- Most popular retirement town: Lavallette, New Jersey - typical home value $874,325 [Zillow defines "retirement towns" as "areas where at least 33% of the population is over the age of 65 and has no children or other relatives (other than their spouse) living in the home."]
- Most popular small town: Calabasas, California ("small towns" defined as cities with populations of between 15,000 and 25,000.)
- Most popular vacation town: Big Bear Lake, California
- Most popular college town: Tempe, Arizona
Per Zillow, the analysis took into account the following factors:
- Typical home values from October 2020 to October 2021
- Year-over-year growth in typical home values from October 2020 to October 2021
- Zillow page view counts per listings from January 2021 to November 2021
- Median sales count from January 2021 to November 2021 (excluded cities with fewer than 25 median sales a month)
- Median listings from January 2021 to November 2021 (excluded cities with fewer than 50 median listings a month)