The "zoom boom" comes to the Transylvania County housing market

Demand from remote workers during the Covid-19 pandemic has sent home prices soaring and rendered the affordable housing problem more acute than ever

Darren and Mary Heath Swanson, with their dog, Hiro, at a lake near their home in Cedar Mountain. Online employment has allowed the Swansons, and many working-age couples like them, to live in the mountains during the pandemic.

Dan DeWitt

NewsBeat Writer

CEDAR MOUNTAIN -- When the state first issued Covid-19 stay-at-home guidelines in March, Mary Heath and Darren Swanson could have remained in Charlotte where school for their three children was online and outdoor recreation meant risking infection at crowded playgrounds.

Or they could move to their recently purchased second home in the Cedar Mountain community of Sherwood Forest -- where they found a nearby private school offering outdoor learning, and where Darren Swanson, who works in real estate financing, could do his job online just as easily as in Charlotte. 

“Here we were hiking every day. We were walking to the lakes. We were participating in all the things that make Sherwood so amazing . . . and we felt very safe,” said Mary Heath Swanson, 42. “The choice between sheltering in place in Charlotte versus sheltering in place here was a no-brainer.”

As Covid-19 has broken the bonds between job and office -- and possibly kicked off a long-term trend in remote employment -- more working-age people such as the Swansons can live where they choose.

And more of them are choosing to live in places such as Transylvania County, where the median home price in 2020 soared to $359,900, nearly $108,000 higher than in 2018, according to a year-end report from Beverly-Hanks Realtors.

“As soon as Covid hit, we just had an explosion of houses selling,” said Diana Refsland, managing broker of Watershed Properties.

It’s been called a “zoom boom” and scenic communities attracting upscale online workers have been called “zoom towns.”

It’s a trend that has sent prices soaring -- and the local workforce struggling to afford even basic housing -- in glamorous destinations such as Aspen, Colo., Santa Fe, N.M., and Cape Cod, Mass.

But Covid refugees have also scooped up housing inventory and driven up prices in remote regions all across the county, according to a new report from the real estate brokerage, Redfin: Pandemic-Driven Interest in Rural Areas Continues in 2021 As Supply of Rural Homes Dips a Record 45 Percent.

“The pandemic and remote work continue to motivate buyers to prioritize indoor and outdoor space over commute times and urban amenities,” Redfin’s chief economist, Daryl Fairweather, says in the report, which identifies two main draws of rural markets: the ability to buy more house for the money and higher quality of life.

The appeal of the mountains

The second of these motivations is more in play in Transylvania, where housing bargains seem to be a thing of the past and prospective buyers rave about the prospect of life in the mountains, said Billy Harris, a Beverly-Hanks broker associate.

“I would say that Covid has done nothing but shine a light on all the good things about Western North Carolina -- the outdoors, the recreational opportunities, the climate,” he said.

Among the other numbers in his company’s 2020 report that show rising demand: sales climbed in one year from 644 to 761, the number of days that properties lasted on the market dropped almost in half, and the inventory of homes for sale plunged from 279 to 116.

It’s hard to know precisely how many of the newcomers are zoomers rather than boomers. Retiree interest remains as strong as it has been historically, Harris said, and at this point the perceived increase in demand from working-age buyers is mostly anecdotal.

But all of the Realtors interviewed said they are seeing more young customers, and more of them moving because of the freedom of online employment.

“People have always loved to mountain bike and do all the outdoor activities that we’re known for . . . but their jobs demanded that they live in a city,” said Paul Wilander, broker/owner at Looking Glass Realty. With the expansion of remote working, which was evident even before Covid hit, he said, “we have definitely seen a lot of people who could not live here before have the ability to do so because their jobs allow it.”

Harris hears evidence of interest in working from home in the first questions from prospective buyers. After inquiries about square footage and the year of construction, he said, they ask, “‘What is the internet speed?’ That question comes out of their mouths instantaneously when considering real estate.”

“At first people wanted to get away from the cities,” said Refsland, of Watershed. “They wanted to get away from the density, and get away from the possibility of getting Covid. But now it’s the additional thing of learning that they can zoom. Once they got away, they realized they didn't have to go back.”

Can it last?

Two factors especially cast doubt on the sustainability of such a hot market, at least at the current volume: the sharp drop in the inventory of existing homes and the flat number of housing starts; in 2020, the county issued only 117 single-family home permits.

New construction is hampered, as it has always been in the county, by the large tracts in public ownership and because much of the remaining property lies in floodplain or on steep mountainsides.

Absent or inadequate water and sewer lines are an obstacle to growth, Wilander said. So, said Harris, is the slow internet in many parts of Transylvania.

The number of builders is also limited, as is their capacity to construct large numbers of homes. Bigger construction firms, capable of putting up tract housing, will likely remain focused on communities such as Mills River, “which has a lot of infrastructure in place,” Wilander said. “It’s closer to Asheville and closer to Interstate 26. A lot of their farmland is not in floodplains and is being turned into development.”

More likely, the demand in Transylvvania will be accommodated by lots in existing subdivisions and by continued infill development in the city of Brevard, Realtors said. And higher prices make it feasible to construct homes on hard-to-access or hilly lots that might have previously been considered unbuildable.

“There certainly seems to be lots of spots where moderate growth can occur,” said Clark Lovelace, executive director of the Transylvania County Chamber of Commerce.

But more challenging building sites mean even higher prices, which “makes it hard for your sheriff’s deputy and your server at Marco (Trattoria) to find a place to live,” Harris said.

Or, without aid, impossible, Wilander said.

“I don’t know how you can create affordable housing because construction costs are so high,” Wilander said. “From my perspective, there would have to be some government subsidy funds to make it work.”

Future demand

But even if the current market conditions don’t last, Wilander expects a continuation in the trend towards remote employment and remote housing, echoing the predictions of many business analysts.

“I don’t think that's going to change,” he said. “The ability to work remotely is a benefit and a perk for industries, not just for their employees, but also for their savings on overhead, on the big buildings in bigger cities.”

The Swansons still don’t know their long-term plans.

Once the pandemic passes, her husband will be expected to spend at least some of his time in the office. They haven’t sold their house in Charlotte, and Mary Heath Swanson admits she misses their friends there.

On the other hand, there’s the draw of life in the mountains -- the small school where she has already enrolled her children for another year, the woods, the lakes, the trails.

“I just got back from a walk and it was amazing,” she said on a recent cold and sunny afternoon. “This is the most delightful place I’ve ever lived in.”

Story ideas or tips? Email Dan DeWitt at brevardnewsbeat@gmail.com