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The Best Counties for Vacation Homes
By Gay Cororaton and Meredith Dunn, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
With the winter months rolling in, you may have clients pining for a vacation at a beach resort, a mountain lodge or a lake. They might even be thinking of owning a vacation home, or perhaps they are a baby boomer planning to purchase a vacation home now to use as a primary residence during retirement. They might also want to purchase a vacation home as an investment or for rental income.
If you sell homes in a vacation destination or refer business to resort and second-home specialists, you’ll benefit from knowing vacation-home buying trends.
The National Association of REALTORS®’ (NAR) 2019 Vacation Home Counties Report identifies which counties have the most and least vacation homes, the most and least expensive counties for vacation-home buyers, and the income profile of those who can afford to buy a vacation home. Data for this report came from the U.S. Census Bureau, Black Knight property records and the 2018 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act.
Top Vacation Home Counties Using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data, NAR classified “vacation home counties” as counties where the vacant housing for seasonal, recreational or occasional use made up 20 percent or more of the county’s total housing stock. Of 3,141 counties in the U.S., 206 counties (6.6 percent) were identified as vacation home counties.
The top 26 vacation home counties include nationally-known sites, as well as less-well-known local destinations. Top spots: Massachusetts (Nantucket and Dukes (56 percent), Barnstable (41 percent), New Jersey (Cape May; 51 percent); Colorado (Grand, Summit Eagle, Jackson, and Pitkin; 51 percent), Wisconsin (Vilas, Lincoln, Langlade, Forest, Oneida; 43 percent), Michigan (Roscommon, Ogemaw, Gladwin, Iosco, Arenac; 42 percent), Missouri (Camden, Miller, Pulaski, Morgan; 40 percent), and Minnesota (Aitkin, Itasca, Cass; 38 percent).
Vacation home counties are also found in Maine, Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire, Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina, Vermont, Florida, California, Georgia, South Carolina, Arizona, Idaho and Oregon.
25 Least Expensive Vacation Home Counties According to Black Knight property-records data, the median sales price in the least expensive vacation home counties was usually less than $100,000 in 2018, the latest year for which data is available. Typically, vacation-home buyers can find these lower-priced properties in Maine (Aroostook, Piscataquis, Somerset, Franklin, Oxford, Washington, Waldo), followed by New York (Chenango, Franklin), Pennsylvania (McKean, Venango, Clarion, Elk, Potter, Clearfield, Jefferson), Missouri (Miller), Michigan (Gogebic, Lake, Arenac, Losco, Cheboygan), Wisconsin (Ashland), and Idaho (Boise, Clearwater).
The expected annual mortgage on a 20 percent down payment, 30-year mortgage for a home purchased at the median sales price would be less than $5,000. The mortgage payment would account for less than 10 percent of the income of a typical family, living in one of these vacation destination areas ($33,000 - $52,000), making it affordable for families living in these areas to own a second home.
25 Most Expensive Vacation Home Counties The most expensive vacation home counties include many well-known summer and winter getaways. Nantucket, Mass., was the most expensive vacation home county in 2018, with a median sales price of $1 million. Other Massachusetts counties in the 25 most expensive are Dukes (which includes Martha’s Vineyard) and Barnstable. Also included among the most expensive vacation home counties: Colorado (Pitkin, Eagle, Summit, Grand, Chaffee, Park, known for the Rocky Mountain summer and winter activities ), Florida (Monroe, which includes Florida Keys; Collier, which includes Naples), California (Mono, Alpine, Inyo, Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa, which are all near Yosemite), Arizona (Coconino, which includes the Grand Canyon), New Jersey (Cape May, with Atlantic oceanfront), Oregon (Clatsop, Columbia, Tillamook, which are near Seattle), South Carolina (Beaufort, which includes the Hilton Head Island), Vermont (Windsor, for summer and winter recreation), and Delaware (Sussex, which encompasses the Rehoboth, Bethany and Lewes beaches).
Based on the median sales price in 2018, the expected annual mortgage payment on a 20 percent down payment, 5 percent, 30-year fixed mortgage rate ranged from $14,000 - $52,000. That mortgage payment would be 20 - 60 percent of the income of a typical family living in these areas ($61,000 to $100,000), making them unaffordable to that family.
Second-Home Borrowers Low mortgage rates are helping many second-home buyers who take out a mortgage, according to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data from 2018. Among borrowers for second homes, the estimated mortgage payment-to-income ratio ranged from 4 - 12 percent in vacation home counties. Most borrowers who obtained mortgages for second homes earned nearly $100,000 or more.
Based on NAR’s tabulation of the data, Cape May, N.J. topped the list of vacation home counties where second-home mortgages accounted for the largest share of home purchase loans. Other counties were located in California (Alpine, Mono), New York (Hamilton, Delaware), Maryland (Worcester), North Carolina (Avery, Watauga), Colorado (Grand, Summit), Wisconsin (Vilas, Burnett, Door, Oneida), Michigan (Lake, Roscommon, Iosco), Idaho (Idaho), Massachusetts (Nantucket, Dukes), New Hampshire (Carroll), Minnesota (Cass), Vermont (Windham), Florida (Monroe) and Pennsylvania (Sullivan).