SEATTLE, July 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Zillow introduces its new, semi-annual "Best Places to Buy a Vacation Home" list, ranking places within close proximity to popular summer and winter vacation destinations.

For the summer edition, out today, Zillow named the best places for golf, beach, outdoor and amusement park vacation homes. To be considered for each list, each area had to meet specific criteria. For example, to be considered for the best places golf list, golf courses had to make up at least 5 percent of the land within an area; for best places for outdoor adventurers, a national park had to be within 20 miles or a half-hour drive of the area. Zillow then ranked the places based on investment potential, looking at both future gains in home values as well as the potential to generate rental income.

Additionally, Zillow created the first-of-its-kind interactive tool, allowing home shoppers to customize their own best places list based on their preferred vacation type, price and location. View the new tool on Zillow Research here.

Results, and topline methodology below:

For a full list of results, contact press@zillow.com, or see our interactive ranking on Zillow Research.

About Zillow, Inc.
Zillow, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z) operates the largest home-related marketplaces on mobile and the Web, with a complementary portfolio of brands and products that help people find vital information about homes, and connect with the best local professionals. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow's Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. Dr. Humphries and his team of economists and data analysts produce extensive housing data and research covering more than 450 markets at Zillow Real Estate Research. Zillow also sponsors the quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, which asks more than 100 leading economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists to predict the path of the Zillow Home Value Index over the next five years. Zillow also sponsors the bi-annual Zillow Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI) which measures consumer confidence in local housing markets, both currently and over time. The Zillow, Inc. portfolio includes Zillow.com®, Zillow Mobile, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, Zillow Rentals, Zillow Digs®, Postlets®, Diverse Solutions®, Agentfolio®, Mortech®, HotPads™ and StreetEasy®. The company is headquartered in Seattle.

Zillow.com, Zillow, Postlets, Mortech, Diverse Solutions, StreetEasy, Agentfolio and Digs are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc. HotPads is a trademark of Zillow, Inc.

ⁱ Zillow identified golf cities and census-designated places (CDPs) as those whose land area, starting from the city center and radiating out to five miles, were at least 5% covered by golf courses.  A place was considered a vacation area if 15% of the housing stock was used seasonally or occasionally, as measured by the U.S. Census Bureau.
ⁱⁱ Zillow identified cities and census-designated places (CDPs) within 20 miles of a national park visitor center.  A place was considered a vacation area if 10% of the housing stock was used seasonally or occasionally, as measured by the U.S. Census Bureau.
ⁱⁱⁱ Zillow identified cities and census-designated places (CDPs) within 5 miles of a body of water spanning more than 40 square miles. A place was considered a vacation area if 15% of the housing stock was used seasonally or occasionally, as measured by the U.S. Census Bureau.
^iv Zillow identified cities and census-designated places (CDPs) within 10 miles of an amusement park, zoo, or other attractions. A place was considered a vacation area if 5% of the housing stock was used seasonally or occasionally, as measured by the U.S. Census Bureau.

SOURCE Zillow, Inc.