Luxury Housing Market Gets a Boost
Posted on Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
Luxury Housing Market Showing Signs of Recovery
Record-setting residential sale –$100 million! Russian billionaire buys Silicon Valley home. Luxury housing market showing signs of recovery.
(April 5, 2011) – In a transaction which set a record for most expensive U.S. residential sale ever, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner (who heads Digital Sky Technologies) has reportedly paid $100 million for a 25,500-square-foot Los Altos Hills (CA) home which was not even listed for sale. This record-setting sale is just one indication that the wealthy have opened their wallets and are shopping for homes again
In North America, the million dollar and above housing market rose 4% in February year-over-year as luxury buyers snapped up homes, often for all cash. The jump in luxury purchases is counter to the real estate resale trend in general. In February, total residential sales dropped 2.8% as compared to February a year ago.
“Evidence of this positive trend for luxury home sales is evident between North Cowichan & Nanaimo too,” said John Surtees, a luxury real estate professional with RE/MAX Ocean Pointe Realty. There have been six single family home sales since January 1st, 2011 between the asking price ranges of $750,000 & 1 million.
“While we don’t have triple digit luxury homes in our market,” said Surtees, “We currently have 56 homes priced at $775,000 or more listed for sale. The most expensive property for sale locally has an asking price of $4,500,000. This 9 acre fully serviced Island with a log constructed 3354 sqft family retreat is located in Departure Bay Nanaimo”
Why the rise in luxury sales? According to Laurie Moore-Moore, Founder of The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, an organization which trains luxury agents internationally, “The number of wealthy households world-wide is almost back to where it was before the downturn. Add the fact that many high net worth individuals are reassessing their investments and rethinking how and where to invest. High-end residential real estate is now attracting many of these dollars, Euros, and Rubles. This bodes well for the luxury home market in the short term. Luxury may well be the real estate segment that leads the recovery.”
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