US DATA: NAR’s 2012 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey say
sales of investment and vacation homes* jumped in 2011, with the
combined market share rising to the highest level since 2005.
Investment-home sales surged an extraordinary 64.5 percent to 1.23
million last year from 749,000 in 2010. Vacation-home sales rose 7.0
percent to 502,000 in 2011 from 469,000 in 2010. Owner-occupied
purchases fell 15.5 percent to 2.78 million. Vacation-home sales
accounted for 11 percent of all transactions last year, up from 10
percent in 2010.