VERO BEACH, FL - The Internet's leading consumer research portal for second homes in gated communities reported that residents of New York requested more information from developers in North Carolina (33%) than any other second home destination in 2008. The data point to strong consumer Web site research about second homes and retirement despite the downturn in the economy.

"We had thousands of requests for information, and this tells us New Yorkers are still thinking of moving south to retire or get a second home," said Elisabeth Miller-Fox, co-founder of PrivateCommunities.com. "Cold winter weather from Buffalo to Long Island is not the only contributing factor either." Miller-Fox said the report is based on New Yorkers who made Web site information requests from January through December, 2008, and was tabulated as part of the portal's proprietary tracking process.

Florida received 27 percent (27%) of all information requests and South Carolina (13%) and Virginia (6%) also remained appealing to New York's second home shoppers. When combined, these four states represented more than 70 percent (70%) of all requests from New York-based Web searchers requesting information about retirement or second home real estate, mainly located in private communities.

About PrivateCommunities.com
PrivateCommunities.com (www.PrivateCommunities.com) features communities and land in North Carolina's coastal regions, western mountain regions and throughout the state. Since its founding in 1996, the Web site has been a growing consumer research hub for destination amenity communities in the United States and the Western Hemisphere.