THE ULTIMATE LBI BUYER’S GUIDE
Everything You Need to Know About Buying a Home on Long Beach Island
The COVID Building Boom
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a massive building boom in the LBI real estate market, driven by remote work and increased demand for beach homes. This surge led to rapid price appreciation between 2020 and 2023 and significantly reduced available building sites. Homes from the 1980s and 1990s are now often torn down to make way for larger, modern properties with upscale amenities. This wave of new construction has permanently reshaped the LBI real estate landscape.
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COVID had an immediate and long-lasting impact on the LBI real estate market. One of the most impacted areas of the Long Beach Island area was in the field of new construction. Fueled by both the strength of the LBI real estate market and the desire to live and work remotely, new construction saw a massive boom, one that rivaled or perhaps even overtook Hurricane Sandy! The long-term impact of this building boom is two-fold. First, fewer building sites are available now, and "newer" homes built in the late 1980's and 1990's have become the new knockdowns. Secondly, the intrinsic value of the LBI real estate market has increased. Undoubtedly, the area saw rapid price appreciation between 2020 and 2023. While some of this was due to supply and demand, much of it had to do with changing the nature of Long Beach Island homes. A new or near-new home with modern amenities and a swimming pool will obviously cost more than a 1950s-era Cape Cod-style home. This massive recent investment in the area and the new construction boom on Long Beach Island have changed the LBI real estate market forever.
