The Luxury Real Estate Market in North America continues to grow, seeing shifts not only in the luxury market but in the overall market, finding its new norm and slowing from the fast-paced seller’s market of years past.
The Trending Experience In Luxury Real Estate
While each market certainly has its own nuances, one trend has become very apparent in the luxury market—it’s all about the ‘experience.’ In an era where mass consumption means both the upper class and the middle class can own the same luxury brand, the rich are forgoing material goods to invest in the immaterial as a way to signify status. It also explains why luxury buyers are downsizing—quality over space has become their priority.
“It’s part of a larger trend in which the affluent are increasingly investing in intangible goods like privacy, lifestyle and education,” says New York Designer Andrew Kotchen.
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Three Wildly Different North American Markets Examined
This emphasis on “experience” holds true no matter the demographic or property being sold or purchased. This month, the Luxury Market Report examined the city of San Francisco, East Coast coastal communities from Miami to Boca Raton, and Toronto, Canada.
San Francisco
The city of San Francisco truly emphasizes the transition towards amenity-rich experiences with 7 billion-dollar mega projects scheduled to transform the city by 2023, not just with new housing and commercial buildings, but with outdoor public space as a major priority.
Driven by incentives that have attracted high tech companies to establish their businesses in this City, it has created a flood of new tech-savvy millennials as well as drawing back homeowners from the Silicon Valley.
East Coast Communities From Miami To Boca Raton
The East Coast is traditionally known for its second homeowners, snowbirds and retirees, and the communities from Miami to Boca Raton immediately resonate. Buyers in this area have shifted, with more focus on quality over size, preferring to pay for luxury amenities and convenience. The luxury resale market here is firmly a buyer’s market. Condos and historic homes have become favorites, but they must be turnkey as buyers don’t have the time or inclination to renovate.
Toronto, Canada
Canada’s largest city, Toronto, has found a stable luxury real estate market amidst historic price increases over the last 8 years due to the high demand from two sectors of the demographic—affluent couples with high paying careers, but surprisingly, it is the empty nesters, seniors and retirees that are also driving the demand for this sector. This demographic in particular are looking for a fully-equipped palace in the sky, so their lives remain as private as when they lived in large properties and luxury apartment buildings are going to great lengths to attract these homeowners.
These individual markets, although very different, once again show that luxury markets are driven by the market force of desire, wants and trends.
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