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Vacation home sales boomed in 2014 to above their most recent peak level in 2006, while investment purchases fell for the fourth straight year, according to an annual survey of residential homebuyers recently released by the National Association of Realtors®.

NAR’s 2015 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey,* covering existing- and new-home transactions in 2014, shows vacation-home sales catapulted to an estimated 1.13 million last year, the highest amount since NAR began the survey in 2003. Vacation sales were up 57.4 percent from 717,000 in 2013.

Investment-home sales in 2014 decreased 7.4 percent to an estimated 1.02 million in 2014 from 1.10 million in 2013. Owner-occupied purchases fell 12.8 percent to 3.23 million last year from 3.70 million in 2013. The sales estimates are based on responses from nearly 2,000 U.S. adults who purchased a residential property in 2014, and exclude institutional investment activity.

Vacation-home sales accounted for 21 percent of all transactions in 2014, their highest market share since the survey was first conducted. The portion of investment sales fell to 19 percent (20 percent in 2013); owner-occupied purchases declined to 60 percent (67 percent in 2013).

Despite strong rental demand in many markets, investment property sales have declined four consecutive years to their lowest share since 2010 as rising home prices and fewer distressed properties coming onto the market have further reduced the number of bargains available to turn into profitable rentals.

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Vacation homes are recreational property purchased primarily for the buyer’s (or their family’s) personal use, while investment homes are residential property purchased primarily to rent to others, or to hold for other financial or investment purposes.