Blog: Second Home Sales Decline in 2008

Added March 30, 2009 by Melanie G. Rogers

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In 2008, second home sales, among new and existing home sales, declined by more than 30 percent from 2007, announced the National Association of Realtors today.

In many cases, second home buyers who bought vacation or investment properties paid cash. NAR stated that 4 in 10 investment property buyers and 3 in 10 vacation home buyers paid cash.

Some interesting statistics:

21 percent of home sales were investment properties in 2008, unchanged from 2007
9 percent of home sales were vacation homes in 2008, down from 12 percent in 2007
Total share of second homes fell to 30 percent from 33 percent in 2007

"We expected vacation-home sales to fall given the impact of a declining economy on discretionary purchases," said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. "A steady share of investment-home sales results from buyers taking advantage of deeply discounted prices in many areas, with a smaller portion of new homes in the sales mix."

The median price of a vacation home was $150,000 in 2008, down 23.1 percent from $195,000 in 2007. The typical investment property cost $108,000 last year, which is 28.0 percent below the 2007 median of $150,000.

March 30, 2009

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