What does it take to live in luxury? According to new data by Realtor.com [1], at least $800,400. At least, that’s where it placed the entry point for the luxury home market in 2017, a 5.1 percent jump year-over-year.
Although this figure may be the start of where the luxury market begins, to buy a luxury property in the nation’s top markets for this asset class, the sales prices will be in the millions.
When you think of pricey housing markets, it’s only natural that New York City springs to mind, which makes it not too much of a surprise that it leads the nation as the most expensive luxury market. New York City saw a 5.86 percent increases in prices of its luxury properties year-over-year to land at an average sales price of $5,284,197. Five California cities also have the honor of leading the nation for most expensive luxury markets with San Mateo coming in at No.2 with an average sales price of $3,370,688, followed by Marin ($3,288,750) and San Francisco ($3,212,188) and No. 3 and No. 4 respectively; Santa Clara ($2,582,250) at No. 6; and Santa Barbara ($2,471,500) at No. 8.
Although these cities’ luxury markets are going strong, nationally, Realtor.com found that the pace of sales for luxury markets weakened in 2017. Luxury markets took 5.4 percent longer to sell last year than they did in 2016, spending an average of 116 days on the market.
“[A]lthough 2017 was another strong year for the luxury housing market, it was outperformed by the U.S. market overall. Age of inventory in the top 5 percent of the market slowed significantly over last year—a tell tale sign that the luxury sector as a whole has weakened. Much of this slowing can be attributed to a wider selection of luxury homes for buyers and increased uncertainty over the last 12 months,” wrote Realtor.com Economic Data Analyst Nicolas Bedo.
To view the full list of the nation’s most expensive luxury markets, click here [2].