NAR Reports Steep Decline in Vacation Home Prices

Prices of vacation and investment properties plunged by over 20% in 2008 from the previous year, according to the National Association of Realtors. The median price of a vacation property fell to $150,000 or 23%, while the median price an investment property fell to $108,000 or 28%, according to the annual report on the second home market. "As in the market for primary residences, it appears that many sales of deeply distressed home are pulling down the median price of the second-home market as well," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. The median price of existing home sales that NAR reports every month fell by only 9.3% in 2008 to $198,600. The NAR annual report also shows that sales of vacation homes have fallen by over 50% since 2006 and sales of investment properties has fallen by 32%.