The borough of Deal may as well have a New York postal address. Pennsylvania has claimed Avalon. And in tiny Cape May Point, 32 states have planted their flag.

It may still be called the Jersey Shore, but the residential real estate in several of New Jersey’s beach towns is now largely owned by those who live in other parts of the country.

People from outside of New Jersey own nearly 37% of the property in 42 coastal communities whose identities are inextricably linked to the state’s sandy beaches, an analysis of state property data reveals.

In 10 of these towns, the majority of property is now owned by people who list an address outside New Jersey as their primary residence. In some cases, such as in Deal and Allenhurst, in-state ownership of residential properties has dropped by more than 30% since 1989.

Though the number of year-round residents at Jersey Shore has declined in recent years as property values have increased, the sea change doesn’t alter how any of these towns are governed.

“We have a town of about 2,000 that swells to about 35,000 in the summer ... we provide services as if we were a town of 35,000 year-round. We have to,” said Martin L. Pagliughi, mayor of Avalon in Cape May County. “People pay their taxes whether they’re here or not.”

NJ Advance Media conducted the analysis using the state property tax rolls from 1989 to 2017, using a preliminary database compiled by the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. The analysis uses residential properties in 42 towns along the coast with little to no inland population.

The data shows dramatic shifts in how property has changed hands in coastal communities, and how groups of people from other states have besieged certain coastal communities, buying out state residents by the thousands.

Here’s a look at what the data shows moving down the coast.

Monmouth County

Monmouth County, with the exception of Deal, still has strong state ownership of its beachfront properties.

Monmouth County is the most “Jersey” of the Jersey Shore counties, but that may be changing.

As of 2017, about 88% of the property was owned by New Jersey residents along the state’s northern Atlantic Coast.

But the overall figures bury significant changes in some towns. About 57% of the residences in Deal are now owned by people from New York, the data shows. In 1989, Deal was 75% owned by New Jersey residents.

Hurricane Sandy, which ravaged parts of the coast, may have played a role as well. Since 2011, the year before the storm hit, the percent of property owned by state residents has declined in every town in Monmouth County.

Ocean County

About 75% of the homes in Ocean County shore towns are owned by state residents.

Like Monmouth, the vast majority of Ocean County shore town residences are owned by New Jersey residents -- about 80%.

While no one town shows particular signs of being bought up by people from other states, Sandy appears to have had the most dramatic impact on real estate in Ocean.

State ownership dropped in every town since the year before Sandy and by about 2.5% overall.

Hundreds of Ocean County properties were destroyed in the storm, but the data shows it didn’t halt construction. Ocean County, which was largely built out prior to Sandy, now has more than 1,000 new residential tax parcels, likely meaning properties were subdivided to make way for more people in the historically hot real estate market.

Atlantic County

In Atlantic County, far less shore homes are owned by state residents than in Ocean or Monmouth counties.

Data on southern New Jersey coast shows a different trend and Atlantic County is where that change starts to reveal itself.

While people, largely from Pennsylvania, have bought up properties in Brigantine and Margate in droves, the same is not true in Atlantic City, or New Jersey’s resort communities in general.

Nearly three quarters of Atlantic City’s residential properties are now owned by state residents, up from 53% in 1989.

Still, Atlantic County remains starkly different from its neighbors to the north. Only 57% of the county’s beach town residences are owned by state residents.

Cape May County

Cape May has the least amount of state ownership in its coastal communities.

New Jersey lost Cape May County long ago, but data shows that’s changing here more than anywhere else.

Of the nine towns in Cape May County analyzed by NJ Advance Media only two -- Wildwood and Wildwood Crest -- are majority-owned by New Jersey residents.

In Avalon, only 27% of the residential property is owned by people from the Garden State. Most is owned by people from Pennsylvania and Delaware.

“That’s always been our market,” Pagliughi said, noting Avalon still has a community feel to it. “Most of our summer homes are owner-occupied and they all know the year-round residents. So we still have that small town feel in the summer, just with more people.”

But what’s different in Cape May County is where that is changing. New Jersey residents appear to be reinvesting in the state’s most popular tourist destinations.

State-resident ownership has jumped by at least 15% in Cape May Point, Ocean City, Wildwood and Wildwood Crest since 1989. In fact, the percent of residential properties owned by New Jersey residents has increased in every single Cape May County town in that span.

Stephen Stirling may be reached at sstirling@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @sstirling. Find him on Facebook.