During the 2008-09 recession, Glenn S.
Phillips, CEO and lead economic analyst at national brokerage firm Lake Homes Realty, received calls from an influx of potential buyers, lured by news reports of foreclosures in the residential market.
“They were trying to get a deal,” said Phillips. But, with the exception of a few developers, that was not the case when it came to vacation homes. Most recreational homes are paid for with cash by individuals with discretionary funding.
More than 10 years later, during the next
economic downfall, Phillips likewise has not seen a negative effect, but
instead “the pandemic drove what was already a high demand market and
accelerated it.”
Take New Hampshire, for example, where the week of July 19, home listings
totaled $1.734 billion, one-third of dollars tied to purchases near Lake
Winnipesaukee and 23% of all home and land listings.
‘Even
if the economy slows, we expect lake real estate and other
discretionary real estate to remain really strong,’ says Glenn Phillips,
CEO of national brokerage firm Lake Homes Realty.
While
top locations like Lake Winnipesaukee and Lake Sunapee remain popular,
Phillips has noticed a national trend toward purchasing homes at less
well-known lakes, or even ponds that are not accessible to water sports,
but simply provide a serene view.
“In
your area of the country, you’re getting a lot of people out of Boston
and New York who are looking for that home out of a city area, and they
don’t want to be too far from their home base of work where they have
primary, but some are selling a primary and making that move full time,
where they believe they can work remotely and commute occasionally,”
said Phillips.
Some 76% of New Hampshire lake homes potential buyers, seen shopping at LakeHomes.com, are from out of state.
New
York and Boston remain the top location for buyers in search of New
Hampshire vacation homes, followed by Hartford and New Haven, Conn.;
Providence, R.I.; Portland, Maine; Burlington, Vt.; as well as
Philadelphia, Pa.; Washington, D.C.; and even Tampa, St. Petersburg,
Fort Myers and Naples, Fla., according to Lakes Realty’s Summer 2021
report.
“Even if the
economy slows, we expect lake real estate and other discretionary real
estate to remain really strong, and probably bolstered by pandemic
thoughts, either work remotely” or the desire to grab that vacation
homes now, said Phillips, whose Hoover, Ala.-based brokerage has two
real estate agents in New Hampshire. “Those mindsets will keep strong
because the pandemic is not disappearing.” — LIISA RAJALA
