This NJ city is tops in the nation for second homes

The Jersey Shore is popular for beach houses, which, for many people is a second home (or, for me, just a dream). One New Jersey city is the absolute #1 in the country for second homes: Ocean City.

As reported by Patch.com, the information comes from a financial website, SmartAsset.

From SmartAsset:

For the fifth year in a row, Ocean City, New Jersey takes the No. 1 spot. More than 81% of mortgages approved in the metro area were for secondary homes. In gross figures, that is 4,910 mortgages for secondary homes vs. 1,129 for primary residences. The median home value in this coastal area is just over $365,000.

First, I’m surprised that the median home value in Ocean City is as low as it is, but second, 81%! That’s nuts. You can’t blame the New Yorkers who fled the city during the pandemic so they could work remotely, if the study says these are all second homes. Or, I guess, maybe they held on to their first home, too.

According to Patch, the year round population of Ocean City is around 11,000, but in the summer, it swells to 100,000 as tourists flock to family friendly beach town with the immaculate boardwalk.

SmartAsset examined data from 404 metro areas using number of mortgages approved for second residences and the total number of mortgages approved for the study.

For comparison, Barnstable, MA, which was second on the list, only 62% of mortgages were for second homes. It’s still a lot, but it pales next to Ocean City.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.

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