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

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But, those who are buying are doing so with cash with more than four out of 10 investmenf buyers and more than three in 10 vacationn home buyers coming to the table with moneyup “We expected vacation-home sales to fall given the impacrt of a declining economuy on discretionary purchases,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chieff economist, in a news release. “ A steady share of investment-home sales resultds from buyers taking advantage of deeply discounted pricea inmany areas, with a smallere portion of new homes in the sales The market share of homes purchasedc for investment was 21 percent last year, unchangedf from 2007, while an additional 9 percent were vacationh homes, down from a 12 percent marketf share in 2007, according to NAR.
And as with the marker for primary residences, second-home prices were also down significantly. The mediann price of a vacation homewas $150,000p in 2008, down 23.1 percentr from $195,000 in 2007. The typical investment propertycost $108,000 last year, which is 28.0 percent below the 2007 medianh of $150,000, according to the Realtore group. The typical vacation-home buyer in 2008 was 46 years old, had a mediam household incomeof $97,200, and purchased a propertty that was a median of 316 miles from theire primary residence.
Investment-home buyers in 2008 had a median ageof 47, earned $85,000, and bought a home that was fairly close to theifr primary residence – a median distance of 19 Twenty-six percent of vacation homes were purchased in smalpl towns, 23 percent in a rural 23 percent in resorts, 20 percent in a suburbn and 8 percent in an urbanb area or central city. Twenty-eight percent of investmenf homes were purchased in a 20 percent in an urban or centraolcity area, 23 percent in a rural 22 percent in a small town and 6 percenf in a resort area.
Seventy percent of vacation homesx purchased in 2008 weredetached single-family 18 percent condos, 5 percent townhouse s or row houses and 7 percentf other. Sixty-four percent of investment homes purchaseds in 2008 weredetached single-family homes, 22 percent condos, 8 percen townhouses or row houses and 6 percenyt other. The survey, conducted in March, includes answerw from 1,924 usable responses.