California Vacation Home Sales Up.

Business Editors/Real Estate Writers

LA JOLLA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 23, 2000

Sales of second homes in California rose during the summer to the highest level in at least twelve years, led in large part by increased sales of vacation properties in the Sierras and in the Lake Arrowhead-Big Bear region, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 4,376 second homes were sold in the state's 100 most popular second-home communities during the June-to-August period, up 4.9 percent from 4,170 for the same period last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

The summer total was the highest DataQuick has in its statistics, which go back to 1988.

"This is a unique market and it behaves in its own unique way. This is discretionary spending. When times are good, vacation homes sell well. When there's an economic downturn, sales drop like a rock," said Mike Ela, DataQuick president.

While some coastal and desert communities have a high portion of second-home buyers, the communities most dominated by second-home sales are in the mountains:

     Community              Zip         2nd homes as %
                           Code        of local market

     Big Bear Lake        92315              81.3%
     Avalon               90704              78.3%
     Tahoe City           96145              77.1%
     Lake Arrowhead       92352              75.1%
     Frazier Park         93222              72.2%
     Fawnskin             92333              70.0%
     Kings Beach          96143              69.0%
     Sugarloaf            92386              68.6%
     Big Bear City        92314              66.9%
     South Lake Tahoe     96150              65.6%

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

Sales trends vary from region to region. Sales in the second-home market around Palm Springs declined somewhat in the early 1990s, then picked up in 1994/1995. Second-home sales around Lake Tahoe and in other parts of the Sierras took off in 1996-1997. Sales in the Lake Arrowhead-Big Bear region started to go up in 1998-1999.

DataQuick, a business unit of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

The vacation home numbers include the 100 communities where more than a third of local sales are second homes. This category is a subset of a larger "non-owner-occupied" category. Of a total of 149,934 residences sold in California during the June-to-August period, 19,172 or 12.8 percent were non-owner-occupied. Because of data unavailability, numbers for the Mammoth Lakes area were unavailable.

Communities with the lowest level of second home sales include the suburban growth areas of Foothill Ranch, Pleasanton, Trabuco Canyon, Clayton and Fremont, all of which had less than two percent.

"Price trends in vacation areas are surprisingly stable, in large part because the second-home markets co-exist with rural primary residence markets," said Mike Ela.

The median price paid for a vacation home statewide was $148,000 during the June-to-August period. That was up 10.4 percent from $134,000 for the same period last year. The statewide median for all homes was $210,000 for the period, up 10.5 percent from $190,000 the year before.

The median price paid for second homes in the Tahoe/Sierra area was $180,000. In the Palm Springs area it was $114,000, in the Lake Arrowhead-Big Bear area it was $119,000 and it was $355,000 in coastal areas, according to DataQuick.

Second homes were most expensive in Pebble Beach where the median price paid was $1,079,000 followed by Carmel with $930,000. At the other end of the scale, second home buyers in Sugarloaf (Big Bear) paid a median $75,000, in Twentynine Palms they paid $50,000, and in Joshua Tree the median was $37,500.

The second-home market in the Tahoe/Sierra area is dominated by buyers from the Bay Area. Buyers from Southern California dominate in the Lake Arrowhead-Big Bear area. Buyers from both regions as well as from out of state are active in the Palm Springs desert area, DataQuick reported.