Median price for U.S. vacation homes: US$150,000

Were you brave enough to jump in and purchase one or more U.S. vacation homes just after the real estate market tanked in 2007? Or did you wait and purchase state-side property at rock-bottom prices in 2012? A new survey by the U.S.-based National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows that a few number of cash-flush people flocked to the United States to purchase vacation property last year.

According to NAR, vacation sales were up by more than 50% in 2014, compared with 2013 sales and of all the homes bought and sold in 2014, a full 21% were for vacation purposes.  The survey also shows that the median price for all these homes was a mere US$150,000 with a median size of 1,500 square feet. The most popular location type for these vacation home purchases was a beach-front spot. However, another interesting statistic from this survey prompts the question: Who’s actually buying up all the U.S. vacation homes? That’s because the 2015 Investment & Vacation Home Buyers Survey reported that the median distance these vacation homes were from the buyer’s principal residence was 200 miles (or approximately 320 kilometres). That’s the equivalent of Toronto to Detroit, MI, or Calgary, AB to Shelby, MT, or Vancouver, BC to Tacoma, WA—not exactly the prominent sun-spots that most Canadians want to snap up.

For a closer look at the top line survey information, check out the following NAR infographic:

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