HOUSTON – (By Dale King, Realty News Report) – The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated a migration to recreational destinations as buyers blend remote work with leisure. As long as a locale offers reliable internet and strong phone service, many Americans are now comfortable making prime vacation spots their everyday workplace.
“We have seen vacation homes become an increasingly popular segment of the market,” said Amy Bernstein, a veteran Houston real estate broker. Speaking on The Ralph Bivins Project podcast, she noted that buyers are choosing nearby escape destinations — places like Conroe or other drive-to locations — where they can enjoy a change of scenery without flying. Country homes with room for home offices and outdoor space have grown especially desirable.
Across the country, vacation properties are evolving into year-round residences that include home-office areas and even space for remote schooling. This shift has driven strong demand in traditional leisure communities, where inventory is limited and prices are rising.
Suburbs and small towns in nearly every state have captured the attention of families seeking more space to live, work and play. Locations within a two- to three-hour drive of major metropolitan areas — reachable without air travel — have become particularly attractive to buyers looking for a nearby retreat.
For example, Cinnamon Shore, a Texas coastal community in Port Aransas less than 200 miles south of Houston, reported a 54 percent increase in total vacation bookings and a 75 percent rise in rental revenue in 2020 compared with 2019. The community’s North and South developments added almost 120 new homeowner families in 2020, mainly from Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth — all within driving distance.
“While 2020 was an anomaly because of flexible work and school schedules, Texas vacationers and homebuyers were clearly drawn to Cinnamon Shore in record numbers, and we expect similar interest to continue,” said Jeff Lamkin, the developer of Cinnamon Shore. “We’re offering a high-quality, master-planned resort community that, until recently, was more commonly found in distant Florida.”
Strong Sales and Rising Acreage Purchases
Cinnamon Shore Realty recorded its best year ever in 2020, with 136 properties sold and an 85 percent increase in sales volume compared to 2019. The Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University noted a broader trend: in late 2020, city residents purchased large swaths of rural land — 552,707 acres for a record $1.69 billion.
Residential sales are also robust in classic vacation areas. When working from home offers ocean views or daily mountain scenery, demand for second homes — and for converting them to primary residences — intensifies rapidly.
Live-Work-Play Lifestyles in Mountain and Resort Towns
“COVID-19 is definitely drawing people to mountain towns,” said Brad Willett, general sales manager for Wilder on the Taylor, a 2,100-plus-acre ranch resort between Crested Butte and Gunnison, Colorado. Large properties with extensive recreational amenities allow residents to live, work and play without leaving the property.
Regional cultural assets — art centers, museums, vast trail networks and vibrant downtowns with local shops and restaurants — further boost appeal. “When Gunnison County reopened to part-time residents and visitors on May 27, 2020, it was like opening the floodgates. It’s been nonstop real estate,” said Jesse Ebner, owner/broker of Signature Properties Ebner & Associates. The market saw a busy summer with multiple bidding wars.
In Crested Butte and surrounding resort markets, 2020 became a landmark year. Channing Boucher, broker associate with LIV Sotheby’s International Realty in Crested Butte, said total sales volume reached about $400 million — the strongest year since 2005. Buyers moved money out of dense cities and into amenity-rich rural and resort communities where they could work remotely while enjoying safer, less crowded environments.
Local numbers reflect the surge: 154 single-family homes sold in the area in 2020, totaling $241 million, compared with 87 homes and $120 million in 2019. Average single-family prices rose from $1.33 million to $1.56 million — an increase exceeding 50 percent. Condominium and townhome sales volume also rose roughly 40 percent, with average prices increasing from $480,000 to $539,000.
Even long-established resort towns are seeing new construction to meet demand. Altus Vail, a 15-unit luxury development opening in summer 2021, marks the first major new construction in Vail Village in a decade, adding new inventory to a market that posted $3.5 billion in sales and historic inventory lows. “Altus Vail residences are designed to feel like single-family homes while offering close access to Vail Village amenities,” said Stan Kniss, partner and listing broker for Slate Real Estate Advisors.
Buyers today are rethinking how and where they live: many now view vacation properties as permanent or semi-permanent homes rather than places for only a few weeks each year. The trend favors homes where people can spend months, not just weeks, as remote work and flexible schedules persist.
Uncertainty and Continued Demand
More than a year into the pandemic, uncertainty remains. Vaccination rollouts and eased restrictions offer hope, but concerns about new variants and potential outbreaks persist. These unknowns continue to shape buyer behavior.
The pandemic has reshaped real estate: many households are leaving smaller city residences for larger homes offering dedicated office space, and students are moving from classroom settings to online learning environments. This shift has driven substantial demand for larger suburban and rural homes where families can combine living, working and learning under one roof.
For some homeowners, the logic goes further: if a property can serve as a place to live and work, why not also make it a place to vacation? This blended lifestyle — living, working and vacationing in a single location — is a defining feature of the current real estate market.
April 9, 2021 Realty News Report Copyright 2021
File: Vacation Homes Sales Surge in Work-From-Home Era
Caption: A mountain home along a private stretch of the Taylor River between Crested Butte and Gunnison, Colo. (Photo credit: James Ray Spahn)
For more about Houston development, see the book Houston 2020: America’s Boom Town – An Extreme Close Up by Ralph Bivins.