With mortgage rates well above the historic lows seen during the pandemic gone is the demand for vacation homes.
According to Redfin’s analysis of Optimal Blue’s mortgage-rate lock data, locks for second homes were down 52 percent from pre-pandemic in March, compared with a 13 percent decline for primary homes. Second-home rate locks fell to their lowest level since 2016 in February and remained nearly as low in March.
Mortgage-rate locks for second homes reached a peak of 89 percent above pre-pandemic levels in August 2020.
“With housing payments near their all-time high; a lot of people can’t afford to buy one home right now, let alone a second,” said Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr. “Add the recent increase in loan fees, inflation, shaky financial markets, the end of pandemic-related financial stimulus and many companies calling workers back to the office, and it’s simply a challenging time for most Americans to buy a vacation home.”