Vacation Homes Sales See Strong Uptick in Sales

Vacation homes sales rose 57% in 2021 year to year.

According to NAR’s 2021 Vacation Home Counties Report, existing home sales saw a 20% jump year to year, making the vacation home statistics that much more incredible.

Melanie McLane, a broker in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, said it is “crazy.”

“There is virtually no supply,” said McLane. “I do think the pandemic just increased desire for people to get away. We are a place where people like to get away, it is very isolated.” McLane said. Homes are not staying on the market long at all and most buyers are going over listing price and/or forgoing inspections, which she does not recommend.

Median vacation home prices also saw a 14.1% increase, while non-vacation areas only saw a 10.1% rise in price, NAR reported.

“I don’t know how long the shortage will last,” added McLane. “With the second home market, it is not as urgent as a residential buyer. No one needs a second home, people want a second home. Most bring cash in the second home. No one knows for sure when it will change, but that is the one thing you can count on is change; markets always change.”

McLane isn’t wrong, the report found that from January to April of 2021, 53% of all vacation home purchases were all-cash transactions.

For Realtor® Will Clauss of Hawley, he reported seeing more of the same.

“Prices on vacation homes are certainly jumping significantly due to inventory being at an all time low in Pike and Wayne counties. In one of the full-amenity resort communities that I sell frequently in, we had 63 listings in October 2019, which was down from the highest I’ve seen in 2015 which was 100 listings. In March 2021, that number fell to zero for a brief time, and now hovers around 8-12 at any given time over the past few months,” said Clauss.

Located about 2.5 hours from both Philadelphia and New York City, Clauss said he is seeing an influx of people who have left or want to leave bigger cities due to the pandemic.

“We find that people wanted to leave the congested cities to have their own retreat after the pandemic hit and are continuing to purchase in our area, even with the recovery on the horizon. They’re swapping their more expansive and extensive vacation travel for a more humble country retreat that is well within driving distance,” Clauss added.

Clauss noted that in less than two years, inventory dropped significantly, from about 1,850 listings in October 2019, to about 300 in March 2021, representing a 84% drop in available properties for sale. “This shortage of inventory and increase of buyers has lead to significant increases in home values locally,” he said. However, while some sellers are receiving more than their listing price, it generally isn’t much more.

“Sellers are also sticking closer to their list price than years past, and, in many cases, benefitting from strong offers with very favorable terms, and even bidding wars above list price. So, with prices up, it’s a great time to sell. But with considerable amounts of new inventory hitting the market on a daily basis, buyers are benefitting from more choices as well. It’s a win-win for buyers and sellers alike given the perfect storm of our proximity to metropolitan areas, historically low-interest rates, continually changing inventory and rising, yet affordable, prices,” Clauss said.