Influences on availability of a second home: The case of Spain

In recent decades, having a second home has become increasingly common in many Western countries and has even been used as an indicator of societal welfare. In this paper, we analyze the factors that influence a household’s decision to search for a second home. The presence of regional heterogeneity in Spain’s real estate market leads us to use a multilevel model to examine whether these differences are linked to macro-level regional characteristics. As expected, household income and the age of the household head are key factors in determining access to a second home, along with the characteristics of the main residence. Among regional characteristics, housing purchase prices emerge as a decisive factor influencing the probability of having a second home. Our results indicate that Spanish households base their decisions on three classical hypotheses: compensation, life cycle, and affluence.