Sales of second homes in California, fell 37 percent last year as slowing appreciation of primary residences caused potential buyers to hold back on vacation purchases, DataQuick Information Systems reported.
The drop in second-home sales was the lowest since La Jolla, Calif.-based DataQuick began compiling statistics in that category in 1998.
Sales fell by more than 34 percent in the major resort markets of greater Palm Springs, the Sierra mountains and foothills and Lake Arrowhead/Big Bear.
“Many California homeowners were feeling pretty good in 2004 and 2005 when there was double-digit appreciation” in housing prices, said DataQuick president Marshall Prentice. “As prices leveled off last year, interest in weekend retreats declined.”
Second-home sales statewide totaled 13,798 last year, DataQuick reported. The peak for vacation home sales was 24,916 in 2004.
Even as the number of sales fell, the median price for a second home gained 10.8 percent to $400,000, up from $361,000 a year before, DataQuick said.
The price of vacation homes in the most expensive resort market, Pebble Beach near Monterey on the central coast, rose 9.4 percent to $1.37 million.
The lower sales trend was reflected in the overall California housing market last year.
Sales of all homes in the state fell 24.9 percent to 557,782.
Californians also bought fewer second homes outside the state in 2006, including 8,409 in the Las Vegas area, a 32.4 percent drop from the year before, DataQuick said.
![The Ravinia Festival Association filed a motion to dismiss the complaint by Karen Ettelson, former member of the organization’s Women’s Board, who sued the musical festival nonprofit and it’s Board of Trustees for “defamatory conduct,” along with seven other counts, after the Board of Trustees expunged her from the working board for an alleged conduct violation. The motion from the music non-profit, which hosts an annual music festival of the same name each summer, argues the lawsuit should be dismissed because there is no justified reason for the courts to intervene with Ettelson’s volunteer status, board members are immune from […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Lake-County-News-Sun.jpg?w=620 "The Ravinia Festival Association filed a motion to dismiss the complaint by Karen Ettelson, former member of the organization’s Women’s Board, who sued the musical festival nonprofit and it’s Board of Trustees for “defamatory conduct,” along with seven other counts, after the Board of Trustees expunged her from the working board for an alleged conduct violation. The motion from the music non-profit, which hosts an annual music festival of the same name each summer, argues the lawsuit should be dismissed because there is no justified reason for the courts to intervene with Ettelson’s volunteer status, board members are immune from […]")