Thursday, July 27, 2006

Boomers Are Buying Second Homes

“Boomers Are Buying Second Homes”

Greetings!

Our summer continues to heat up both from a weather and real estate sales perspective; activity has been pretty brisk.

Earlier this year it was reported by a real estate trade association that American baby boomers bought a record number of second homes for vacation and investment last year, it amounted to nearly 40% of total homes sales in 2005. Interestingly about 33% of 2005 vacation home purchases occurred in the Midwest, followed by 30% in the South, 20% in the West and 17% in the Northeast.

In our local school district sales of “waterfront homes/cabins” per the MLS have increased by approximately 5% for the trailing 12 months over the previous 12 month period from ’04-’05. This “boomer trend” is unlikely to reverse soon even though there has been a broader housing slowdown; baby boomers are at the peak of their earning potential so they should continue to drive second-home sales. Part of this is due to the fact that interest rates have remained tolerable (for those of us who remember the double digit years!) and people want to diversify their investments and enjoy the use of it as well.

Have a wonderful weekend; our forecast is for more warm summer temperatures. If you are in the area the Lumberjack World Championships are being held this weekend right here in Hayward, home of ‘world class events”.

Life is Good!

Gary A. Nathan

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