Saturday, April 19, 2008

Vacation and Investment Property Sales Strong Despite Market Turmoil

Hundreds of thousands of American homeowners may be in desperate straits, but others continue to purchase vacation homes and investment properties at a healthy rate.

According to a study released late last month by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) such second-home sales declined with the overall market in 2007, but second home sales still accounted for 33% of all new and existing home
sales. The combination of these two sales accounted for 36%of the total in 2006.

Twenty-one percent of all homes purchased in 2007 were for investment purposes compared to 22% the year before. An additional 12% of the home purchases were vacation homes, down from 14% in 2006. The typical vacation-home buyer in 2007 was 46 years old, had a median household income of $99,100, and purchased a
property that was a median of 287 miles from his or her primary residence; while the typical investor was 42, earned an income of $92,900, and bought a home that was relatively close to his or her primary residence - a median distance of 27 miles. Sixty-five percent of vacation home buyers and 71% of investment home buyers purchased existing homes, while the remainder purchased new homes.

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