Value House Shopping in Hamptons, Sanibel, Cape Cod and Other Locations

When is a million-dollar vacation home considered a bargain? When it was first listed at $2-million, of course.

To analyze the plummeting price of fancy second, third or fourth-home real estate, Business Week's Prashant Gopal and Zillow.com got together and gathered intel sampling some prime property areas and how well they were holding up.

Among those faring the best in the sampling included Laguna Beach, CA, Newport, R.I., Chesapeake Beach, MD, Lake George, NY, Destin, FL, and Oahu Hawaii

On the other hand, in the Hamptons, New York's platinum coast, BW quotes two brokerages as saying "home prices have dropped 23.5% to $675,000 in the first quarter, compared with a year earlier." And what can you get for that price? The 2006-completed house shown here, with 3 BR and 3 1/2 baths, on half an acre in East Hampton.

Here are a few other places to hunt -

Arizona
Hard-hit vacation market: Scottsdale
Annual home value change: -27%
Q4 home price: $437,423

Connecticut
Hard-hit vacation market: Mystic
Annual home value change: -17.2%
Q4 home price: $256,000

California
Hard-hit vacation market: Napa
Annual home value change: -21%
Q4 home price: $405,000

Florida
Hard-hit vacation market: Marco Island
Annual home value change: -27%
Q4 home price: $437,423

Florida
Hard-hit vacation market: Sanibel
Annual home value change: -18.1%
Q4 home price: $516,892

Florida
Hard-hit vacation market: Bonita Springs
Annual home value change: -19.8%
Q4 home price: $251,757

Massachusetts
Hard-hit vacation market: Cotuit (on Cape Cod):
Annual home value change: -14.2%
Q4 home price: $375,740

New Jersey
Hard-hit vacation market: Point Pleasant Beach
Annual home value change: -15.6%
Q4 home price: $513,659

Oregon
Hard-hit vacation market: Sunriver
Annual home value change: -15.7%
Q4 home price: $256,000

High Winds Blow NYC, DC No Good, Sez Expert

Thinking about buying a pied-a-terre in New York City or Washington, DC? Or a second home in Naples, Fla.? Keep your checkbook in your pocket, says real estate consultant John Burns. His "barometer" of housing affordability blows these cities off the charts in terms of bubbledom. "Nine markets have even worse affordability levels than when mortgage rates were 18%+ in the early 1980s: New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland (Oregon), Baltimore, Edison (New Jersey), Nassau (Long Island, NY) and Naples," says Burns's latest newsletter.