Second-home owners have been a big force in the booming real estate market of the last decade, but the label is something of a misnomer, according to a recent study by the The National Association of Realtors. Around six in 10 second-home owners actually own two or more places in addition to their primary residences, according to the National Association of Realtors Profile of Second-Home Owners.
Baby boomers, not surprisingly, dominate this group, but minorities also are buying more second homes for vacation or investment. They accounted for about 11 percent of second-home purchases between 2003 and 2005, compared to 6 percent of purchases in 2002.
How has talk of a bubble affected this market? Of those surveyed, 64 percent of investment property owners planned to buy another property in the next two years, while 28 percent planned to sell.