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A recent study by the National Association of Realtors in the US, for example, found falling prices and slowing home sales in more than half of the nation's largest metropolitan areas in the last quarter of 2006. However, when it comes to .specific segments of specific markets, the picture is a lot more complex.
"The years 2004 and 20(15 were catch-up and windfall years," says Michael Saunders of Michael Saunders & Company, which is based in
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The finest properties, especially in waterfront communities, they say, have held their own. And not surprisingly, they articulate the same classic principles: Long-term luxury real estate investors who want to live in their homes will be rewarded; speculators in a market with oversupply will not fare so well.
"I have a golden three-year rule," Saunders says, "If someone bought three years ago, I challenge anyone to show me how they lost money."
VACATION HOMES JUNE/JULV 2OO7