This latest report should put the notion to bed that the housing boom was largely driven by speculators. The National Association of Realtors annual Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey finds that investors and second home buyers snapped up one third of the homes sold in 2007.

While the volume of sales is down along with home sales in general, the market share of investors and second-home or vacation home buyers is 33 percent, close to the historic norms at the height of the housing boom.

Investors bought 21 percent of homes in 2007, down only one percent from 2006. And vacation home buyers dropped from 14 percent in 2006 to 12 percent in 2007.

Wait a minute. I thought there was a credit crunch. That vacation homes were piling up like college student laundry. That investors got out of housing and moved into gold, corn and oil.

So what's happening? Primary residence sales declined 10.0 percent to 4.34 million in 2007 from 4.82 million in 2006, but vacation sales (-30.6 percent) and investment homes (-18.1 percent) fell much more, possibly due to tighter credit and economic uncertainty.

As NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun points out -- second homes and investments are discretionary, so why invest? Record drops in prices coupled with burgeoning inventories are one reason, and they have the cash to take advantage of better buying conditions, more so than the primary home buyer which is a group largely populated by cash-strapped first-timers.

Twenty-eight percent of vacation-home buyers paid cash for their property, as did 35 percent of investment buyers.

Plus, investors and second home buyers aren't interested in short-term gains and plan to hold on to their properties from four to ten years (median) respectively.

Investment homes are $150,000, unchanged from 2006, while the price of vacation homes have dropped $5000 to $195,000.

Eight out of ten second home buyers believe it's a good time to buy real estate, and a majority plan to buy another property in the next two years.

So what does that tell you? People with more money are spending it on real estate.

Published: March 31, 2008

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.