You know how much I like vacation homes, so this is the best news ever. The National Association of Realtors says second-home buyers from Cape Cod and New York’s Hamptons to Miami and Lake Tahoe, California, are returning to the housing market as “surging stock prices, job growth and low interest rates boost purchasing power and consumer confidence. U.S. vacation-property sales jumped 57 percent last year to an estimated 1.13 million, a record in data going back to 2003.”
Coincidentally, buyers are snapping up vacation homes faster than investment properties: Realtors report a 7.4 percent drop in deals for buying investment properties, down to 1.02 million, as rising prices cut into potential profits.
Purchases of owner-occupied homes fell almost 13 percent to 3.23 million, the Realtors group said. Buyers know they missed the bottom of the market, and now they don’t want to miss the bottom of interest rates.
Vacation-home buyers had a median household income of $94,380, up from $85,600 in 2013, and the typical property was 200 miles (320 kilometers) away from a buyer’s primary residence. About 40 percent of purchases were in beach areas, 19 percent were in the country, and 17 percent were in the mountains.
Vacation homes accounted for 21 percent of all transactions last year, the most since the National Association of Realtors survey was first conducted 12 years ago.
This might be a great time to pick up a condo in Telluride, where you can enjoy cooler summers as well as a snowy ski season.
The Villas at Cortina is the newest Mountain Village development offering the most amenities of any ski-in/ski-out development in Telluride: a heated year round outdoor pool and hot tub, private owners lounge, a kids and adult game-room, private shuttle service to go to the grocery store, out to restaurants, or to the free gondola into town. Prices for the ultimate in care-free mountain home luxury begin at $1.59 million. We have the whole story over on SecondShelters.com…
