Where are the Nation's Second Homes?

Overall, there are 6.9 million housing units that qualify as second homes or more than 5 percent of all housing units in the nation.

Second home ownership is often discussed in housing policy debates, but in general there is a poor understanding of what is considered a second home and where these homes are located.

This is particularly true in tax policy contexts because the most common stereotype of a second home - an expensive beach house - is often a rental property that is not eligible for the mortgage interest deduction.

The following analysis sheds some light on the location and count of second homes that are in fact eligible for the second home portion of the mortgage interest deduction. The findings indicate that the geography of second home ownership is much more expansive than simply beachfront locations.

Accurately accounting for the stock of second homes is difficult, in part because what constitutes a second home differs depending on what definition is used. For the purposes of the mortgage interest deduction (MID), a second home is, in general, a non-rental residence that is not the taxpayer's primary residence.

This could be: (1) a home that used to be a primary residence due to a move or a period of simultaneous ownership of two homes due to a move; (2) a home under construction for which the eventual homeowner acts as the builder and obtains a construction loan; or (3) a non-rental seasonal or vacation residence.

Given this tax-based definition and using data from the 2009 American Community Survey a mapping of the share of each county's housing stock that consists of second homes is generated. However, the analysis excludes the stock of homes under construction because county level data are not available.

- Courtesy of NAHB