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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: David Jones who wrote (7059)	11/24/2002 12:08:57 AM
From: calgal	Respond to of 306849

Second homes gain appeal, survey says By Steve Brown URL:http://www.austin360.com/statesman/editions/today/business_16.html THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS Saturday, November 23, 2002 Americans seeking a haven from the ravages of the stock market are putting more of their money in second homes. The number of buyers using money cashed out of securities to acquire second homes has more than doubled during the past two years, according to a new study from the National Association of Realtors. "When you look at the source of funds for people who bought a second home since 2000, equity in stocks or bonds was used by 16 percent," said Dennis Hanlon, a Colorado real estate agent who heads the association's resort home forum. "For people who bought second homes prior to 2000, the sale of stocks and bonds accounted for only 7 percent." The current move runs counter to historic trends, which said that the second-home market slumped during a bad economy. "It's a segment of the market bought with discretionary money -- people don't have to buy second homes," said Hanlon, who spoke at the association's annual meeting in New Orleans earlier this month. Sales of securities are now the second most common source of equity for second-home purchases (behind money taken from savings), the association found in a new survey of thousands of second-home buyers. Forty percent of Americans who said they were considering the purchase of an additional home said they are now more likely to buy because of instability in the securities market. And more than a third of recent second-home buyers surveyed said they were more likely to buy yet a third home as a result of the stock market shake-up. "I don't think it's coincidence that we've had extreme volatility and some tumbling in the stock and bond market," said David Lereah, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors. "They are putting whatever money they would have put into the stock market into real estate. They are looking for more stable investments." Contrary to popular perception, the second-home market is not reserved for the super-rich. "It's very obvious from the survey that everyone is participating," Lereah said. The typical second-home buyer in the United States has a household income of $76,900 and buys a property valued at about $150,000. Almost 80 percent of the buyers purchased the second home for family use, not primarily as an investment. And more than half the houses were within 200 miles of the buyer's primary home. The majority of second-home buyers said they use the property as a family retreat, for vacations or as a retirement home. About 31 percent of second-home owners -- the biggest share -- use their properties one to three months a year.