by Mike Colpitts 
Three out of ten of the top second home markets in the U.S. are in Florida, according to Smart Asset’s latest top 10 home markets list. The domination shows just how popular Florida is for vacation homes.
The Destin area in the panhandle, The Villages senior citizens development in Central Florida and Naples in Southwest Florida made the list. The three are some of the most popular destinations in Florida.
- Ocean City, New Jersey
Ocean City lies on the famous Jersey Shore. In total almost 72% of all homes purchased in this metro area were purchased as non-primary dwellings, the highest rate in our study.
Secondary homebuyers in Ocean City are wealthier than residents who live there full time. On average a homebuyer buying a secondary home in Ocean City had an income 2.8 times that of a homebuyer buying a primary residence in Ocean City.
- Barnstable Town, Massachusetts
Located within the Barnstable Town metro area is Massachusetts’ favorite vacation spot, Cape Cod. About 4,650 homes were bought here in 2016 and roughly 44% of those were to people purchasing secondary homes.
On average secondary homebuyers in this metro area took out a mortgage worth 1.39 times their income to purchase their house. For buyers purchasing a primary residence, the average mortgage-to-income ratio was 2.5.
- Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware
About 43% of the 7,548 homes purchased in Salisbury in 2016 were purchased by people acquiring a second home. 
On average, people buying second homes had an income worth 2.6 times what people purchasing a primary dwelling had.
- Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, Hawaii
Who wouldn’t want to own a home in Maui? Around 36% of all homes bought in this slice of paradise were purchased by secondary homebuyers.
The housing market in this metro area is on the expensive side. Secondary homebuyers took out an average home loan of $561,150 and primary homebuyers took out an average mortgage of $468,596. One plus to owning a home here is Hawaii’s low property tax rates.
- Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina-North Carolina
One of the most historic beach locales in America takes our fifth spot. According to data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, about 65% of homes purchased here in 2016 were by primary residence homebuyers. That leaves 35% of homes going to people buying secondary homes.
Homebuyers buying a primary residence in this metro had the lowest average mortgage in our top 10.
- Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Florida
Located in Southwest Florida, Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island is another popular spot for secondary homebuyers. Of the roughly 6,800 homes bought here in 2016, 2,360 were purchased by people in the market for a secondary home. On average people purchasing secondary homes in this metro had an income of $330,000 and took out a mortgage of about $397,000.
- The Villages, Florida
The Villages, a retirement community in Florida, is an attractive place to buy for people in the market for a second home. Properties here are much more affordable on average than they are in Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island. The average homebuyer buying a secondary home here took out a mortgage of only $195,000. That same figure for people buying a primary residence is $204,000.
That makes The Villages one of three places in our top 10 where homebuyers purchasing primary residences took out larger mortgages than people buying secondary homes. Overall 33.5% of home purchases were made by people buying a secondary home.
- Flagstaff, Arizona
Around 2,030 homes were purchased here in 2016. Of that number 628 went to people buying second homes. That equals roughly 30.9% of all homes. Homebuyers in Flagstaff who were purchasing primary residences took out a home loan worth about 2.8 times their income on average. When purchasing a home it’s important to factor in long-term costs like property taxes. Arizona’s average effective property tax rate is 0.84%, well below the national average.
- Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, Florida
This metro area is part of Florida’s northwest corridor, between the Pensacola metro area and the Panama City metro area. In the past we’ve found that Fort Walton is a good option for those hoping to purchase an affordable beach town.
The data seems to suggest plenty of people are buying secondary homes here. In total 1,902 – or 29.4% – of the 6,467 home purchases went to homebuyers purchasing secondary homes.
- College Station-Bryan, Texas
Our list ends in College Station-Bryan, the 10th-hottest secondary home market. According to our data, 29.3% of all home purchases in this metro were made by people looking for a secondary home.
Secondary home purchasers also seemed to have found themselves some good deals. According to our data, the average home buyer purchasing a non-primary residence took out a mortgage worth 82% of their income. That’s a mortgage-to-income ratio of 0.84. Only six cities in our top 25 had mortgage-to-income ratios less than 1.