According to a report by the National Association of Realtors, Canadians made up the largest percentage of foreign buyers of United States homes from May 2007 to May 2008 at 24%. One third of those buyers purchase homes in Florida.  The number of Canadian buyers of Florida homes has more than doubled since the previous year, going from 3,500 to 7,200. 

According to a poll conducted by the National Association of Realtors, 33 percent of all new and used homes purchased in 2007 were either vacation or investment properties. 

The NAR’s annual Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey reports the breakdown as 21 percent investment properties and 12 percent vacation homes, with investment home sales at 1.65 million and vacation home sales at 740,000.

65 percent of those buying vacation homes bought previously owned houses, while 71 percent of investment homes were bought used.

The survey also states that in 2007, the median price of a vacation home was $195,000 and an investment property about $150,000.  59 percent of vacation homes purchased were single family homes, 29 percent were condos, 7 percent townhouses and 5 percent classified as “other.”

About 60 percent of investment properties purchased in 2007 were single family homes, 20 percent condos, 11 percent townhouses and 8 percent “other.”

According to the survey, in 2007 the average vacation home buyer was 46 years old with a median household income of $99,100 and the property purchased was close to 300 miles from their main residence.

Investment home buyers were 42 years old with an income of $92,900 and the property purchased was an average of almost 30 miles from their chief residence.

Geographically, 19 percent of vacation homes were purchased in the Northeast. 16 percent were in the Midwest, 41 percent in the South and 24 percent in the West.

23 percent of investment properties purchased in 2007 were in the Northeast, 19 percent in the Midwest, 38 percent in the South and 21 percent in the West.

According to the The Evans Report, compiled by Palm Beach real estate attorney Leslie Evans, single family home sales in Town are up.  In the report, Evans analyzes closing documents filed in Palm Beach County as well as private sales not recorded by the MLS.

Also included in the report is that average and median prices are up for the most part, and sales totaled more than $1 billion, an increase of $124 million.  Single-family home prices are up by $618,369; median sales prices are up by $400,000, and the total sales for single-family homes came to $725.75 million.

According to many players in the Palm Beach real estate market, prices on the Island are not dropping, which goes against the negative market trends in other parts of the country. In 2007, there were 93 single-family home sales in 2007 and 83 in 2006 – a 12 percent increase. The increase in sales price was also 12 percent for that time period.

Another Palm Beach broker points out that there were 7 sales in the month of December and 11 in January, information he gathered from the Palm Beach MLS.  Although this data is not a concrete indicator, since not all of the contracts have officially closed, he is confident that a high number of pending sales is still good news for the market.