U.S. Cities Where Vacation Home Demand Has Declined the Most

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Vacation homes—also referred to as second homes or seasonal properties—are residential properties purchased primarily for leisure use rather than as a primary residence. While often associated with affluent buyers and resort destinations, this segment of the housing market can serve as a leading indicator of broader economic conditions. Because these purchases are typically discretionary, shifts in vacation-home demand can signal changes in consumer confidence, housing affordability, and the financial flexibility of higher-income households—factors that also influence the wider real estate market and local economies that depend on seasonal residents.

In recent years, higher mortgage rates, elevated home prices, and tighter financial conditions have made second-home purchases more difficult to sustain, particularly compared with the low-rate environment earlier in the decade. As a result, many prospective buyers are turning toward alternatives such as timeshares and short-term rentals, which offer access to vacation properties without the high upfront costs and unpredictable overhead of owning a vacation home.

To better understand these shifting conditions and their effects, SellMyTimeshareNow—a global marketplace where people around the world connect to rent, buy, and sell timeshares—analyzed where the decline in vacation home purchasing is occurring, to what extent, and how the timeshare market is responding.

Here are the key takeaways from the analysis:

  • Vacation-home purchases fell 65.8% from their 2021 peak. U.S. second-home mortgage originations dropped from 257,549 in 2021 to 88,158 in 2025, while the second-home share of all mortgage originations also fell from 4.9% to 2.6% over the same period.
  • Florida saw the biggest drop in total vacation-home purchases. Between 2021 and 2025, Florida recorded 38,465 fewer vacation-home purchases with a mortgage, more than any other state. By percentage, Nevada saw the largest decline at 78.3%, followed by Hawaii (-77.8%) and Wyoming (-74.5%).
  • The U.S. timeshare industry expanded since pandemic-era lows. U.S. timeshare sales volume rose from $4.9 billion in 2020 to $10.5 billion in 2024, while rental revenue climbed from $1.3 billion to $3.2 billion. That amounts to gains of 114.3% and 146.2%, respectively.
  • Timeshare purchase interest in 2025 was heavily concentrated. On the SellMyTimeshareNow marketplace, the U.S. led with 14,942 purchase offers, far ahead of Mexico (3,373) and Aruba (1,598). Within the U.S., Florida ranked first with 3,506 offers, followed by Hawaii (2,219) and Nevada (1,755).

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