Vacationers reenter homebuying market

Vacation homes regained some of their popularity last year, while investors increasingly shied away from real estate, according to a new survey from the National Association of Realtors. Vacationers bought 553,000 homes in 2009 at a median price of $169,000, up 7.9 percent from the 513,000 homes sold in 2008 at a median price of $150,000. Roughly one-fifth of those sales were condos. Primary home sales were also up 7.1 percent during the year. Investors, meanwhile, bought 15.9 percent fewer homes, down to 940,000 last year at a median of $105,000 from 1.12 million in 2008 at a median of $108,000. Of those investment home sales, 27 percent were condos. Investors also captured only 17 percent of the market share of U.S. home sales last year, compared to the 21 percent they commanded in 2008. Vacation homebuyers, NAR said, are generally planning to use the home themselves, whereas investors are more likely to seek rental income from the property. TRD