Leisure Living: Prices holding up in ski areas

Prices in these areas are also protected because the topography and scarcity of developable land restricts new construction.

Overall, demand for second homes is buoyed by demographics, including the more than 70 million baby boomers who are approaching retirement age. Despite recent economic concerns, baby boomers generally have acquired wealth in home equity and savings accounts and are entering the second home market. The typical age of second home buyers has gone down, and now stands near the mid-40s or early 50s, experts say.

In 2007, second homes made up about a third of new and existing home sales, according to the National Association of Realtors. The NAR said 21 percent as investment homes and 12 percent used as vacation homes. The numbers were down from 22 percent and 14 percent, respectively, in 2006 as consumers held back on big-ticket, discretionary purchases due to economic concerns and tightening of mortgage credit, the NAR said.

Nationally, the median price of a vacation home was $195,000 in 2007, down nearly 3 percent from the previous year. The median price for an investment property was unchanged at $150,000.

The West region accounted for 24 percent of vacation home purchases, second to the South region's 41 percent, the NAR reported.

Several of these Western resort towns were once mining towns or hippie refuges, giving them an off-the-beaten-path feel. Aspen, for example, is an international destination for many rich people who don't want their names in the paper, such as Kevin Costner and Jack Nicholson.

"I call it `stealth wealth,'" said Janet O'Grady, editor of Aspen Magazine. "Aspen has always been a bastion of old money and quiet money."

And these buyers can afford to wait.

Many agents "are telling their sellers, `Look-it, if you don't have to sell, this isn't the right time to do it,'" said Dennis Hanlon, a broker with Prudential Utah Real Estate in Park City, said

"People that are putting their houses on the market, they've got a wonderful place to come to if it doesn't sell," Hanlon says. "In many cases they're renting it and it's making good income for them ... They can sit on it and they can hold out this downturn."