Despite the ongoing troubles in the housing market, there is increasing buzz that sales are picking up in the luxury segments of many markets.
Some recent stats support this. NAR’s numbers for April 2010 showed that sales of million-dollar-plus homes were up 54% year-over-year. CoreLogic reports that at an even higher price point, nationwide sales of homes $2 million to $5 million totaled 2,461 in the first quarter, up 32% year-over-year.
Let's take a look at our ILHM National Luxury Market Report for some of the current trends:
Overall, average list prices are down, a function of both the pricing of new listings coming onto the market, and price reductions on current listings.
Inventory has been increasing from a low in the first quarter of the year.
Since the first quarter, we've seen a steady increase in the percentage of active listings that have decreased their asking price at least once over the past 90-days. As you can see from the charts, this trend has tracked quite closely with the increase in inventory and the decrease in average list price.
Despite the increasing inventory, over the last month or so we've seen a strong reduction in average days-on-market for active listings--a sign that more rational pricing is leading to quicker sales.
Keep in mind of course that like the weather, trends in real estate are LOCAL phenomenon. National stats like these are just a convenient way to generalize about the health of our markets as a whole.
The real story for you (and your buyers and sellers) is what's happening in your neighborhoods across the various price segments. The story often gets interesting and your expertise as an agent really shines when you can show that in a particular neighborhood, at a particular price segment, the market is doing something interesting and there are "hidden" opportunities. The market reports you're sending out should highlight these trends and "ah-ha" moments for your clients, past and future, and position you as THE go-to expert on the local market.
