One person who rode that wave was Rory Capern. 'What it felt like is it really unleashed a whole wave of people who had had the dream of moving and living in a beautiful place like this, and it seemingly all happened at once,' said Ladd. Ladd said the average number of days on the market for desirable homes to go pending is around five days, which means many homes get multiple offers. The median sales price in October in Bend was $560,000. In Bend and surrounding Deschutes County, the average residential home price in October was up 17% year over year. At these destinations, home sales since late spring have gone on a tear, resulting in very low inventory and rapidly rising housing prices. What distinguishes the Zoom towns is strong in-migration this year from larger locales. The housing market nationwide has shown remarkable strength in 2020, driven by low interest rates and desire among buyers to acquire more elbow room. The broker/owner at another agency in the north central Washington valley said an urban influx was causing an overwhelming 'COVID land rush.'

'When COVID hit and businesses were required to work off-site, the game was on as to who could make the move fast enough to buy while there were still some homes for sale,' Ann Eckmann, broker/owner of Blue Sky Real Estate in Winthrop, told the Methow Valley News. Simonson predicted the total dollar volume of sales in 2020 will easily break the record for San Juan County despite the COVID shock and temporary shutdown experienced in spring. 'The majority of our agents, and those throughout the county are having their best year ever,' wrote Merri Ann Simonson with Coldwell Banker San Juan Islands, in an October update.