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

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But, those who are buyinyg are doing so with cash with more than four out of 10 investment buyers and more than three in 10 vacation home buyer coming to the table with monegup front. “We expected vacation-home sales to fall givejn the impact of a declining economy ondiscretionary purchases,” said Lawrenc Yun, NAR chief economist, in a news release. “wA steady share of investment-home salees results from buyers taking advantage of deepl y discounted prices inmany areas, with a smallef portion of new homes in the sales mix.
” The markegt share of homes purchased for investmenf was 21 percent last year, unchanged from 2007, whild an additional 9 percent were vacationb homes, down from a 12 percent market share in according to NAR. And as with the markeyt for primary residences, second-home prices were also down The median price of a vacation homewas $150,00o0 in 2008, down 23.1 percent from $195,00p0 in 2007. The typical investmentg propertycost $108,000 last year, which is 28.0 perceny below the 2007 median of $150,000, accordingg to the Realtor group.
The typical vacation-home buyerf in 2008 was 46 years old, had a median household income of and purchased a property that was a medianm of 316 miles from their primary residence. Investment-home buyers in 2008 had a mediaj ageof 47, earned $85,000, and bought a home that was fairlu close to their primary residencs – a median distance of 19 Twenty-six percent of vacation homesw were purchased in small towns, 23 percent in a rural area, 23 percen in resorts, 20 percent in a suburbh and 8 percent in an urbahn area or central city.
Twenty-eight percent of investment homes were purchasec ina suburb, 20 percent in an urbanh or central city area, 23 perceng in a rural area, 22 percenr in a small town and 6 percent in a resort Seventy percent of vacation homes purchased in 2008 were detache single-family homes, 18 percent condos, 5 percent townhoused or row houses and 7 percent other. Sixty-four percen t of investment homes purchased in 2008 weredetachef single-family homes, 22 percent condos, 8 percen townhouses or row houses and 6 percent other. The conducted in March, includes answerws from 1,924 usable responses.