The Super Bowl marks the unofficial start to the Spring Real Estate market, and every year we like to review the luxury market in our ‘Real Estate Super Bowl’. Nationally, the number of home sales priced at $1 million or more hit a four-year high in the first nine months of 2012, and spiked 51% in November compared to 2011 according to NAR®.
From a 123,000 Acre ranch in Montana with a whopping 132.5 million dollar asking price, to a $90 million penthouse in New York, record sales were noted coast to coast, and like the broader market, luxury sales showed buyers taking advantage of lower prices. The recovering market and fear of “fiscal cliff” tax increases drove some major sales before the end of the year as well. In Rhode Island, 188 million dollar plus properties sold last year, compared to 128 in 2011.
Residential Properties LTD participated in 40 of these sales, half of which we also brought in the buyer. The median price for all sales $1 million or more was $1.4 million in 2012, down from $1.5 million in 2011, according to RIAR. The super high end (sales above $5 million) median price rose from $6.3 million to $6.9 million in 2012. While we find most of our buyers are local, we also belong to the world’s largest global network of the best brokerages, Luxury Portfolio International, the luxury face of Leading Real Estate Companies of the world®, producing $225 billion in annual home sales in 30 countries. Our brand is recognized throughout the world as the luxury standard of excellence. We get many incoming high end buyers through the corporate relocation program, RELO Direct®
This Week’s Real Estate Insight: Even if you are not in million dollar plus price point, there is a correlation between the markets. High end buyers have a good grasp of the direction the economy is going, they see prices are as low as they will go and are getting in before market prices reflect the recovery. So even if you are not in the million dollar price range, you can take the cues from those who are, take advantage of today’s market, and get the best house you can afford at terrific rates.
