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

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But, those who are buyin are doing so withcash – with more than four out of 10 investmenr buyers and more than three in 10 vacatiobn home buyers coming to the tabl e with money up front. “We expectee vacation-home sales to fall given the impactg of a declining economy ondiscretionary purchases,” said Lawrencer Yun, NAR chief economist, in a news “A steady share of investment-home sales resulte from buyers taking advantage of deeply discounted prices in many areas, with a smaller portion of new homes in the saled mix.
” The market share of homes purchased for investmenft was 21 percent last year, unchangefd from 2007, while an additional 9 percentr were vacation homes, down from a 12 percenr market share in 2007, according to NAR. And as with the markef for primary residences, second-home prices were also down The median price of a vacationj homewas $150,000 in down 23.1 percent from $195,000 in 2007. The typicaol investment propertycost $108,000 last year, whicjh is 28.
0 percent belowa the 2007 median of $150,000, according to the Realtor The typical vacation-home buyer in 2008 was 46 yearsw old, had a mediabn household income of and purchased a property that was a median of 316 miles from theier primary residence. Investment-home buyers in 2008 had a mediah ageof 47, earned $85,000, and bought a home that was fairly close to their primary residence a median distance of 19 miles. Twenty-sizx percent of vacation homesd were purchased insmall towns, 23 percent in a rural area, 23 percent in resorts, 20 percenty in a suburb and 8 perceng in an urban area or centralp city.
Twenty-eight percent of investment homes were purchase ina suburb, 20 percent in an urban or centralk city area, 23 percent in a rural 22 percent in a small town and 6 percen t in a resort area. Seventy percent of vacatioh homes purchased in 2008 weredetached single-family homes, 18 perceny condos, 5 percent townhouseds or row houses and 7 perceny other. Sixty-four percent of investmen t homes purchased in 2008 weredetache single-family homes, 22 percent condos, 8 percent townhousese or row houses and 6 percent other.
The survey, conducted in includes answersfrom 1,924 usable