Demand For Vacation Homes Drops to Lowest Level Since at Least 2018
Americans are purchasing one-third as many vacation homes as they were during the pandemic buying boom. High prices and mortgage rates, along with the return of in-office work, have made the prospect of owning a second home less appealing than it once was.
U.S. homebuyers took out 86,604 mortgages for second homes in 2024, the lowest level in records dating back to 2018 and down 5% from a year earlier.
This is according to a Redfin analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data covering purchases of second homes, primary homes and investment properties from 2018 to 2024. The term “vacation home” is used interchangeably with “second home” in this report. There are more details on methodology at the end.
While mortgages for second homes dipped to a six-year low in 2024, the rate of decline slowed substantially from the two years prior. In 2022, second-home mortgages fell 42% year over year, and in 2023, they fell 40%. The big declines in 2022 and 2023 were due largely to the vacation-home boom in 2020 and 2021, which was driven by affluent Americans taking advantage of low mortgage rates and remote work to decamp to vacation destinations.
Second-home mortgages made up just 2.6% of all mortgages in 2024—the lowest share on record. That’s down from 2.8% the year before and a peak of 5% in 2020.
Demand for all home types was slow in 2024 because it was the second-least affordable year for homebuying on record, due to high home prices and mortgage rates. But demand for second homes fell more than demand for primary homes; mortgages for primary homes fell 1.4% year over year, less than half the decline in mortgages for second homes.
There are several reasons mortgages for second homes are falling faster:
“Most people aren’t buying vacation homes at all because mortgage rates and insurance costs–especially for waterfront homes and condos–have skyrocketed. Plus, people know they’re unlikely to earn much revenue from listing on Airbnb now that occupancy rates are down,” said Lindsay Garcia, a Redfin Premier agent in Fort Lauderdale, FL. “While some wealthy cash buyers are still purchasing second homes, they are much more likely to make a low-ball offer or request concessions than they used to be.”
Demand for vacation homes is falling fastest in Florida
In Miami, second-home mortgage originations dropped 32.2% year over year in 2024, more than any other major U.S. metro. It’s followed by four other Florida metros: Orlando (-28.4%), Fort Lauderdale (-28%), West Palm Beach (-23.7%) and Tampa (-20.9%).
Demand for second homes is falling fastest in Florida because it’s less appealing for out-of-towners to own homes there than it once was. Housing costs in the Sunshine State are soaring, partly due to increasing insurance, HOA and property-tax costs. Additionally, the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters is turning some people off from the state. And both of those things together are making some would-be second-home buyers shy away from Florida because they’re nervous home values will fall.
While vacation-home mortgages are declining in Florida, they’re still more common in West Palm Beach than anywhere else. In West Palm Beach, second-home mortgages made up 5.6% of all mortgages in 2024, the highest share of the metros in this analysis, followed by New Brunswick, NJ (4.2%) and Riverside (Palm Springs), CA (3.5%).
Mortgages for second homes fell year over year in 30 of the 50 most populous U.S. metros, stayed flat in two, and rose in the others. They increased most in Detroit (up 26% year over year), San Francisco (17%) and San Jose, CA (15.9%). But note that second-home mortgages still made up a very small portion of all mortgages in those metros: Less than 1% in Detroit and San Jose, and 1.7% in San Francisco.
The people who are buying vacation homes: Rich, middle-aged, white
We also took a look at who bought vacation homes in 2024, breaking down the data by income level, age and race:
| Metro-Level Summary: Mortgages for second homes, 2024
50 most populous U.S. metro areas |
||||
| U.S. metro area | Second-home mortgage originations | Second-home mortgage originations, YoY change | Share of total mortgage originations that were for second homes | Median value of second homes |
| Anaheim, CA | 397 | -10.6% | 2.5% | $1,465,000 |
| Atlanta, GA | 666 | -9.3% | 0.9% | $435,000 |
| Austin, TX | 372 | -4.1% | 1.1% | $515,000 |
| Baltimore, MD | 238 | 7.2% | 0.8% | $595,000 |
| Boston, MA | 433 | 1.2% | 1.2% | $835,000 |
| Charlotte, NC | 515 | 13.4% | 1.3% | $455,000 |
| Chicago, IL | 466 | 4.0% | 0.7% | $365,000 |
| Cincinnati, OH | 181 | 0.0% | 0.7% | $345,000 |
| Cleveland, OH | 130 | 9.2% | 0.6% | $245,000 |
| Columbus, OH | 195 | -8.0% | 0.8% | $475,000 |
| Dallas, TX | 467 | 4.2% | 0.7% | $485,000 |
| Denver, CO | 479 | -6.8% | 1.2% | $665,000 |
| Detroit, MI | 92 | 26.0% | 0.6% | $255,000 |
| Fort Lauderdale, FL | 489 | -28.0% | 2.7% | $510,000 |
| Fort Worth, TX | 181 | -15.8% | 0.6% | $400,000 |
| Houston, TX | 1050 | -5.7% | 1.3% | $405,000 |
| Indianapolis, IN | 217 | -14.6% | 0.7% | $355,000 |
| Jacksonville, FL | 583 | -14.3% | 2.4% | $465,000 |
| Kansas City, MO | 209 | 1.5% | 0.8% | $375,000 |
| Las Vegas, NV | 944 | 7.6% | 3.2% | $495,000 |
| Los Angeles, CA | 512 | 0.0% | 1.2% | $1,345,000 |
| Miami, FL | 408 | -32.2% | 2.1% | $850,000 |
| Milwaukee, WI | 143 | -1.4% | 0.9% | $415,000 |
| Minneapolis, MN | 455 | 15.8% | 1.0% | $425,000 |
| Montgomery County, PA | 80 | -12.1% | 0.4% | $545,000 |
| Nashville, TN | 433 | 9.9% | 1.5% | $555,000 |
| Nassau County, NY | 638 | 6.3% | 3.0% | $1,705,000 |
| New Brunswick, NJ | 938 | 9.3% | 4.2% | $955,000 |
| New York, NY | 818 | -5.4% | 1.7% | $975,000 |
| Newark, NJ | 242 | -13.6% | 1.4% | $395,000 |
| Oakland, CA | 97 | -2.0% | 0.5% | $1,105,000 |
| Orlando, FL | 1062 | -28.4% | 3.0% | $435,000 |
| Philadelphia, PA | 125 | 0.8% | 0.7% | $345,000 |
| Phoenix, AZ | 1849 | -7.6% | 2.9% | $535,000 |
| Pittsburgh, PA | 174 | -3.9% | 0.8% | $315,000 |
| Portland, OR | 248 | -3.9% | 1.0% | $615,000 |
| Providence, RI | 334 | -8.0% | 2.3% | $840,000 |
| Riverside, CA | 1416 | -9.6% | 3.5% | $635,000 |
| Sacramento, CA | 439 | -3.5% | 1.9% | $755,000 |
| San Antonio, TX | 407 | -7.1% | 1.2% | $355,000 |
| San Diego, CA | 362 | -11.9% | 1.7% | $1,205,000 |
| San Francisco, CA | 131 | 17.0% | 1.7% | $1,420,000 |
| San Jose, CA | 80 | 15.9% | 0.7% | $1,695,000 |
| Seattle, WA | 265 | 10.9% | 0.9% | $795,000 |
| St. Louis, MO | 297 | -2.0% | 0.9% | $305,000 |
| Tampa, FL | 1280 | -20.9% | 2.9% | $435,000 |
| Virginia Beach, VA | 428 | 3.1% | 1.8% | $495,000 |
| Warren, MI | 271 | -3.6% | 1.0% | $320,000 |
| Washington, DC | 422 | -3.2% | 0.8% | $595,000 |
| West Palm Beach, FL | 825 | -23.7% | 5.6% | $675,000 |
Methodology
The second-home data in this report is from a Redfin analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data covering purchases of second homes, primary homes and investment properties from 2018-2024. The term “vacation home” is used interchangeably with “second home” in this report. For this report, the median “worth” or “value” of second homes is the median property value from HMDA data itself, which is reported by the mortgage loan originator as either the home’s appraised value or sale price.
By: Dana AndersonI Redfin I May 8, 2025