Sales of vacation homes are surging again, the result of rising wealth in higher income households and renewed confidence in the housing market. The number of second homes acquired for part-time personal use jumped 30% last year to 717,000 homes. Although the number of second homes sold last year is well short of the high point of nearly 1.1 million in 2006, last year’s jump signals a rapidly changing sentiment about the value of residential real estate, which just a few years ago was considered a poor investment amid the broad market bust. Economists note that the vacation home market was a beneficiary of last year’s big gains in the stock market and rising home values.
Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2014
