As interest rates have dropped to record-breaking lows and many Americans now find themselves being able to work remotely, there has been a sudden peak in demand for second homes and vacation homes.
According to research conducted by Point2Homes [1], second home buyers are looking into purchasing vacation homes at increasingly high levels this year. Demand for vacation homes has now reached a five-year high.
Point2Homes discovered Google search trends revealing that terms such as “buying a 2nd/second home” and “buying a vacation home” have become more popular over the past few months. The report shows that interest in second homes and vacation properties grew by 235% above July 2019 and 103% over August of last year.
Home prices had been on the rise just before the pandemic spread across the country, causing less interest in purchasing second homes. Since the pandemic, lockdown measures and working from home became the new norm, causing many Americans to search for an escape. Hunting for a new vacation home seems to be a popular way to do just that.
Some vacation hot spots have been especially trendy on Google searches. The location that has seen the greatest increase in interest is Big Sky, Montana. The popularity of keywords “big sky house” on Google had a 177% year-over-year increase.
The second top-trending location is Fort Bragg, California, which had a 143% increase in consumer interest since 2019. The other top three vacation spots with the most increase in interest were Harbor Springs, Michigan had a 70% increase, Gulf Shores, Alabama, which saw a 47% rise in searches, and Waikoloa, Hawaii, which had a 38% growth in popularity since last year.
Point2Homes also found that some vacation spots, such as “southeastern destinations of Key West, Myrtle Beach, Destin, Blue Ridge and Kissimmee,” which had waning interest before this year, have either bounced back to the same level of popularity they had five years ago or have developed even more interest among potential second home buyers.
The top five luxury destinations which “returned to their pre-pandemic levels by mid-summer” include Aspen, Colorado; Park City, Utah; Palm Springs, California and Newport Beach, California.