Lots of boomers like second homes

Baby boomers have a homeownership rate higher than the national average, and one in four boomers owns more than one house, a recent survey shows.

Results of the survey of 2,000 Americans born between 1946 and 1964, conducted by Harris Interactive, shows that nearly eight in 10 boomers own their own homes; the Census Bureau puts the overall homeownership rate at 69 percent.

Almost 90 percent of the boomers surveyed have owned property at some point, the Harris results showed, and almost 96 percent believe owning a home is a good financial investment.

A National Association of Realtors (NAR) association analysis shows baby boomers are active in the second-home market, owning 57 percent of all vacation/seasonal homes and 58 percent of rental property.

Forty percent of the 2,000 survey respondents said they intended to make the vacation home or seasonal property a primary residence eventually.

Historically, the realtors' survey data have shown that only one in five intended to do so when first buying such a property.

This has emerged as a boomer-investment strategy, said David Lereah, the NAR's chief economist.

"Some boomers will take advantage of generous capital-gains exclusions from their taxes when they sell their primary residences, and then place themselves in the position of being able to convert a vacation home into their new primary residence, which would later become eligible for the same tax treatment," he said.

"Then, if their needs change in the future, they'll be able to take the capital-gains tax break after they have lived in that home as their primary residence for two out of the five previous years," Lereah said.

"It becomes a great way to build and protect a nest egg."