Second‐home buying and the housing boom and bust

Abstract I estimate the effects of second‐home buying (existing homeowners acquiring additional properties) on the housing boom and bust, by constructing a new measure and using a new identification strategy based on the rise in out‐of‐town demand for second homes in vacation areas during the housing boom. Areas with plausibly exogenous higher second‐home buying experienced a sharper boom and bust: faster growth in house prices and construction employment from 2000 to 2006, and a sharper contraction from 2006 to 2010. The results suggest that changes in credit demand were important in amplifying the recent housing cycle.