Some see the current housing market as fraught with hazards—one big sucker pin. They believe that prices are too high and a correction is not only inevitable but imminent. Others look at real estate and see only tap-in birdie opportunities, and they keep firing at every flag. They anticipate prices going up and show no signs of caution.

No matter how you interpret the trend, there’s no doubt the housing market is white-hot, with sales records being set nearly every month. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the national median price for existing homes will rise 9.4 percent in 2005 to $202,600, while new-home prices will rise 5.8 percent to $233,900, the result of a perfect confluence of low supply and high demand, a sluggish stock market, low interest rates and a variety of mortgage options.

“We have to go back to the mid-1960s to see a period of comparably low mortgage interest rates,” says NAR president Al Mansell. “A big difference now is a decline in mortgage origination costs, plus a mushrooming in the availability of low- and no-down payment loans.” The 30-year fixed rate in late August was at 5.77 percent, according to Freddie Mac.

As a result, the real estate buzz has taken over America. Nearly every day, scores of articles in newspapers and magazines try to make sense of the market. Meanwhile, speculators and investors have snapped up properties in hopes of making a quick, spectacular profit, in the tradition of day traders or Silicon Valley IPOs.

At the high end of the housing market, golf communities are just as hot, with nearly every development reporting record sales this year. At Southern Highlands in Las Vegas, a five-bedroom, 8,000-square-foot house is going for $4.95 million. At Lake Nona in Orlando, the asking price for a 1.71-acre homesite is $1.9 million.

“This is the greatest time in real estate’s history,” says Robert Shiels, vice president of sales and marketing for Lyle Anderson, which oversees several communities, including Desert Highlands and Superstition Mountain in Arizona.

This dizzying escalation has buyers giddy about their next purchases and potential sellers wary about an imminent bursting of the bubble, much as with the stock market several years ago. But if—or when?—the real-estate bubble bursts, it appears homeowners in golf communities are in better shape to weather the correction, with downsides less severe than elsewhere. That’s due to some fundamental differences between the regular housing market and the golf-community market. Here are several:

Motivation for Buying

While “location, location, location” always has been the first rule in real estate, it’s less important when it comes to choosing a golf community. There are great golf courses and communities all over the country, from Florida to California, so the big lure is less the location than the experience provided by the community. “We’re in kind of a different paradigm,” says Bill Houghton, vice president of marketing for Reynolds Plantation. “People are buying into a lifestyle.”

Additionally, most buyers in golf communities intend to live there for the long term. They’re not looking to turn over properties quickly for a profit. “We’re not selling to a lot of speculators,” says Houghton. “We don’t have many investor purchases. Most people are buying and using the properties.”

Baby Boomers

“The demographics are in our favor,” says Houghton. “Statistics show that people start looking for a second home at age 47.” Right now, the last of the baby boomers are reaching that age, and the first baby boomers have approached retirement age. So for the next 20 years, golf communities—retirement havens for golfers and non-golfers alike (the numbers show about 65 percent of homeowners in golf communities do not play)—will remain in demand as baby boomers continue to retire in huge numbers.

This phenomenon already can be seen in the disparity in recent growth between golf communities—which are doing record business—and the entire golf market, which has remained stagnant. The two main factors cited for the lack of golf’s growth, time and cost, don’t apply to buyers of golf-community homes. They have plenty of both and will continue to be avid golfers—and golf-community homeowners—for decades.

Value

“Compare the cost per square foot [at Reynolds] to a suburb and it’s almost always in our favor,” says Houghton. “As housing has escalated so dramatically in Atlanta and everywhere else, suddenly we look like a bargain.”

And that’s just comparing physical properties against each other. Golf communities have added values that make them even better deals: Many homes come with golf memberships, and communities often offer one-stop shopping for amenities unavailable to regular homeowners, like beach access, tennis, social events, concierge service, continuing education programs and dining.

Competition

In the current housing market where demand far outstrips supply, speed is important in purchasing the right property. But buyers of golf-community homes have the luxury of looking around more for the right fit.

Often, buyers aren’t looking for certain school districts. Nor do they have to be within a certain commuting distance of a job. Free of these constraints, buyers can consider any number of communities to fulfill their needs: quality golf, other activities, a sense of belonging. That means more competition among the communities, and the golf real estate game can be a little more of a buyer’s market than the general real estate scene.

In addition, buyers of golf-community homes tend to be well-informed consumers. “These are savvy buyers,” says Shiels. “They’ve done well in their business lives and they may be rewarding themselves for years of hard work.”

Recognizing the need to provide full-service experiences to lure buyers, many communities are promoting other aspects of the development, in addition to quality golf. “At one time, it was important to have the biggest, most opulent clubhouse and a big-name architect,” says Shiels. “But I think the softer program elements are even more important: activities, relationships, being part of a community and getting to know the other property owners.”

In the end, it all comes down to lifestyle and a sense of community, which are very difficult to put a price on, bubble or no bubble.