After years of sluggish sales, luxury home sales are on the rise in Minnesota, western Wisconsin and across the nation. We explore what this means for the local market, below.
In our local market, we consider luxury homes to be those priced at $500,000 or more. In July of 2014, pending sales of these homes in our market were up 7.6 percent, while pending sales below this price point were down 4.9 percent.1
Why are luxury homes outpacing the regular market?
It seems that a combination of inventory and demand is leading to the increase in luxury home sales. Inventory of high-end homes increased 24.1 percent in July, while new listings under $500,000 increased only 4.4 percent.
With that many new listings on the market, a high demand is needed to keep the sales flowing. Today, the demand is there. In May 2010 - the height of the foreclosure crisis – high-priced homes lagged on the market for an average of 176 days. Today, these homes are selling in an average of 68 days. It’s clear that luxury buyers are coming out of the woodwork, and they are looking to buy now.
If you’ve been waiting to sell your high-end home, it may be time to get off the fence. We offer a free comparative market analysis to homeowners who want to know the likely value of their home. Contact us today to get started.
1. Northstar MLS data for 13-county Twin Cities metro area. July 2014 over July 2013.