National Association of Realtors: Second-home sales fall - Washington Business Journal:

esivyjifag.wordpress.com
But, those who are buying are doinyg so withcash – with more than four out of 10 investmenyt buyers and more than threse in 10 vacation home buyers coming to the tablew with money up front. “We expecteed vacation-home sales to fall given the impact of a declininy economy ondiscretionary purchases,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chier economist, in a news release. “qA steady share of investment-home sales results from buyers takingb advantage of deeply discounted prices inmany areas, with a smallefr portion of new homes in the sales The market share of homexs purchased for investment was 21 percent last unchanged from 2007, while an additionalk 9 percent were vacation homes, down from a 12 percenrt market share in 2007, accordinh to NAR.
And as with the market for primary residences, second-hom prices were also down significantly. The median pricse of a vacation homewas $150,000p in 2008, down 23.1 percent from $195,000p in 2007. The typical investment propertyucost $108,000 last year, which is 28.0 percentt below the 2007 median of according to the Realtotr group. The typical vacation-home buyer in 2008 was 46 years old, had a mediamn household income of $97,200, and purchased a propertyu that was a median of 316 miles from their primargy residence. Investment-home buyers in 2008 had a mediam ageof 47, earned $85,000, and bought a home that was fairlyu close to their primary residence a median distance of 19 miles.
Twenty-six percent of vacation homesa were purchased in small 23 percent in arural area, 23 percenty in resorts, 20 percent in a suburbn and 8 percent in an urbah area or central city. Twenty-eight percent of investment homes were purchase d ina suburb, 20 percent in an urban or centra l city area, 23 percent in a ruraol area, 22 percent in a small town and 6 percent in a resort Seventy percent of vacation homes purchased in 2008 were detachee single-family homes, 18 percent condos, 5 percent townhouses or row houses and 7 perceng other.
Sixty-four percent of investment homes purchased in 2008 weredetachexd single-family homes, 22 percent condos, 8 percent townhouses or row housees and 6 percent other. The survey, conductedf in March, includes answers from 1,924 usable