It seems like every month we hear more news of how the real estate market keeps deteriorating. Developers build fewer homes. Home buyers refrain from buying.

The market for investment homes and second homes does not appear to be suffering quite as much. It remained relatively consistent last year as compared to 2006, according to the National Association of Realtors.

One third, or 33 percent, of homes purchased last year were for investment or vacation purposes, announced NAR. In 2006 it was 36 percent. While it’s less than ’06 it’s not dramatically so and NAR says this is “close to historic norms.”

Here are some interesting profiles of the typical second home buyer:
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 their primary residence.

Investment-home buyers last year had a median age of 42, earned an income of $92,900, and bought a home that was relatively close to their primary residence – a median distance of 27 miles.

According to NAR, eight in 10 second-home buyers consider it a good time to invest in real estate, compared with 59 percent of primary residence buyers. Forty-four percent of vacation-home buyers and 57 percent of investment buyers said they were likely to purchase another property within two years.

NAR conducted its annual Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey this month and received 1,965 usable responses.

Published: Mar 28, 2008