6 CA Cities Top List For 2021's Most Popular Places: Report

CALIFORNIA — Six California cities landed on Zillow's ranking of the most popular places to browse for real estate listings online. South Lake Tahoe was ranked the most popular city overall, drawing the most eyeballs for those dreaming of buying a home.

Zillow's analysis included multiple factors to determine a city's online popularity — Zillow's page-view traffic, housing available in the city, average price appreciation and more, according to the report.

South Lake Tahoe took the top spot on account of its "vacation-style" environment, with a "small-town vibe" and proximity to major cities like the Bay Area and Reno, according to the rankings.

Homes in South Lake Tahoe are bringing in an outstanding 5,469 page views per listing, Zillow reported.

In the overall category, South Lake Tahoe was followed by two California cities a bit farther down South: Calabasas and Malibu. Zillow attributed Calabasas' high ranking to its celebrity population and Malibu's to its beachfront location.

Big Bear Lake found itself at the top of the list for popular vacation homes due to its hiking trails, parks and lakes. Big Bear Lake rose in ranks as the pandemic made vacation homes more popular, according to Zillow, and today the city has a higher number of pending sales than the national average.

Lake Arrowhead was also named one of the nation's top vacation towns.

The online ranking followed other pandemic real estate trends as well, like interest in good year-round weather, affordability and how conducive a home is to remote working, according to Zillow.

The likes of Pomona College and Claremont McKenna College put Claremont on Zillow's most popular college town list, immediately following Phoenix Arizona at the top spot.

Read the full report on Zillow's website.