Tucson Ranks No. 13 Among Top 25 Places to Buy a Vacation Home
North America’s leading vacation rental management platform, released its fifth annual Top 25 Best Places to Buy a Vacation Home report, and Tucson landed at No. 13.
Each year, the company ranks its top 25 markets* to purchase a vacation home based on capitalization (cap) rate, or rate of return on your investment. The report ranking also factors key data points, including median home sale price and annual gross rental revenue, to help guide buyers to markets that have an attractive investment profile and are vacation rental friendly.
“According to a recent analysis by Redfin, global market conditions are reportedly slowing home sales after years of historically high demand and low inventory. As a result, the real estate market is stabilizing and allowing prospective buyers to search for the right home with less pressure than they may have experienced a year or two ago,” said Daned Kirkham, Vacasa’s senior director of real estate. “The ever-changing real estate market highlights the importance of having an agent who specializes in vacation rental destinations and homes to help buyers select the best investment.”
According to this year’s report, buyers should consider vacation homes in waterfront destinations as the vast majority of markets are waterfront or water adjacent, including this year’s No. 1 destination, Lake Anna, Va. Demand for waterfront properties has been reflected in Vacasa data throughout the past year. The 2022 Vacation Rental Buyer Report revealed that short-term rental buyers are most interested in beach markets, up 10% over 2021. On the guest side this sentiment also rings true: sunny beaches dominated the 10 most-searched cities in Vacasa’s 2022 Vacation Rental Search Report.
However, not all of the 2022 markets are beachy (or new). A handful of repeat locations from the 2021 Top 25 Best Places to Buy a Vacation Home report also made the 2022 list, in addition to newcomers like Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; Sylva, North Carolina; and Nashville, Tennessee; representing popular desert, urban and mountain destinations among buyers.
Top 25 markets for buying a vacation home in 2022
| Market | Cap rate | Median home sale price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lake Anna, VA | 12.2% | $435,000 |
| 2 | Port Aransas, TX | 10.7% | $295,000 |
| 3 | Palm Coast, FL | 10.3% | $354,000 |
| 4 | Corolla, NC | 10.2% | $930,000 |
| 5 | Okaloosa Island, FL | 9.0% | $425,000 |
| 6 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 8.5% | $490,250 |
| 7 | Phoenix, AZ | 7.8% | $470,000 |
| 8 | Saugatuck, MI | 7.8% | $510,000 |
| 9 | Sylva, NC | 7.7% | $333,000 |
| 10 | Gulf Shores, AL | 7.5% | $437,250 |
| 11 | Cape Coral, FL | 7.3% | $436,475 |
| 12 | Frankfort, MI | 7.3% | $454,900 |
| 13 | Tucson, AZ | 7.1% | $340,000 |
| 14 | Daytona, FL | 7.0% | $260,500 |
| 15 | Boothbay, ME | 6.9% | $413,000 |
| 16 | Savannah, GA | 6.8% | $300,000 |
| 17 | Nags Head, NC | 6.7% | $887,000 |
| 18 | Westport, WA | 6.7% | $446,547 |
| 19 | Nashville, TN | 6.6% | $470,000 |
| 20 | Bradenton, FL | 6.5% | $436,450 |
| 21 | Depoe Bay, OR | 6.4% | $486,000 |
| 22 | Dauphin Island, AL | 6.4% | $775,000 |
| 23 | Hatteras Island, NC | 6.4% | $850,000 |
| 24 | Port St. Joe, FL | 6.4% | $500,000 |
| 25 | Hilton Head Island, SC | 6.3% | $688,000 |
