Having a second home is a dream for a lot of people. Who doesn’t want somewhere beautiful they can escape to when they need a break or want to flee bad weather? But while we dream about it, owning a second home is expensive and, if you don’t have the ability to use it often enough, might not be worth the cost. Last year, the coronavirus changed that equation for a lot of Americans.
The increasing number of us who were able to work remotely could suddenly justify the extra expense, since we could spend more time in our second homes than ever before. For that reason, second-home sales skyrocketed in 2020. At times, rising over 100 percent from year-before levels. But a more recent analysis has found second-home sales falling drastically from last year. Does that mean the second-home sales boom has started to cool?
Well, maybe. As things increasingly get back to normal and more of us have to return to the office – at least, part of the time – the lure of vacation homes may fade to pre-pandemic levels. But this most recent analysis is comparing May sales to May 2020, when the pandemic was still in its first wave and demand had yet to rise. That means, while the boom may have cooled, it might not have dropped as drastically as it appears. (source)