Wealthy New Yorkers are hunting for weekend homes close to the city, and it's changing the way people think of the suburbs

Hillary Hoffower

Jun 21, 2019, 00:13 IST

Wealthy New Yorkers are hunting for weekend homes close to the city, and it's changing the way people think of the suburbs

Alex Potemkin/Getty Images

New Yorkers are buying weekend homes in the suburbs, like Westchester County.

Wealthy New Yorkers are buying weekend homes in the suburbs, reported Brooke Lea Foster for The New York Times.
For those who can afford the cost of the split lifestyle, the suburbs offer a temporary escape from the city, as well as access to different activities.
They're not the only ones changing the suburbs: Millennials who can't afford to buy homes in cities are buying in near-dead parts of the suburbs instead.
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Wealthy New Yorkers have discovered a way to have the best of both worlds.

Those who can't give up city life completely but want an escape from the hustle and bustle have found the perfect compromise: buying a weekend home in the suburbs.

These second homes are in places with hour-plus commutes like Greenwich, Connecticut; Katonah, New York; and Westchester County, reported Brooke Lea Foster for The New York Times: "Many have charming downtowns, some with the boutique exercise classes popular in the city and farm-to-table restaurants. And depending on where you buy, you might get a house with a pool that is also a short drive or walk from a beach, great hiking trails or parks. Or a lively farmers' market."

A real estate agency director told Foster the trend is more prominent than ever. Some owners spend the summer there and commute to the city; others take a three-day weekend, working from their vacation home on a weekday, according to Foster.

The trend, Foster wrote, is a flipped take on the classic city pied-À-terre. Instead of a suburban-dweller keeping a city apartment to crash in after a long night of work, an urban-dweller turns to the suburban home as a place to retire to over or, sometimes, jumpstart, the weekend.

The tactic isn't unlike that of the wealthy millennial contingent in New York and San Francisco, who rent in the city and buy a vacation home in the country as an investment opportunity, Business Insider previously reported. When they're not living in those homes, they rent them out.

But it's not just wealthy New Yorkers who are looking at the suburbs differently. Those who can't afford to buy homes in the city are buying houses in commuter towns instead - and it's reviving the near-dead part of the suburbs known as the exurbs for the first time in a decade, Laura Kusisto of The Wall Street Journal reported.

Here, houses are so affordable that buyers find the savings worth the two-hour commutes.