Following a nationwide trend, vacation home sales in Florida shot up during the pandemic. A recent report captured some industry sales data. The National Association of Realtors issued a report analyzing sales data from counties where vacation homes make up at least 20 percent of all housing. Gulf, Franklin and Taylor Counties fall into that category. Researcher Gay Cororaton says those counties saw much faster growth in home sales compared to places where the share of vacation housing is lower. "We know that from other data that people have been moving to the suburbs to rural towns, small towns just as a safety precaution and to enjoy the outdoors and have another form of recreation because urban-based recreation has been limited by social distancing.” Cororaton says telecommuting and virtual learning freed people up to temporarily relocate — ultimately driving up the demand for vacation homes. The association’s report shows growth of nearly 60 percent in vacation home sales between January and April above the same period last year. Home sales overall were up by 20 percent.