Luxury is subjective. After all, what is luxurious to one person may not be to another. But in the housing market, luxury can be defined. And, according to a recent analysis from the National Association of Realtors’ consumer website, the luxury market is defined as the top 10 percent of listings. By that measure, the entry price for a luxury home in today’s housing market nationally is $1,277,907. That’s down 1.7 percent from last year and has been falling now for 27-straight months. But while luxury prices have been coming down, the sales pace in the luxury market has been rising, with luxury homes selling faster than they did last year across every price tier. Anthony Smith, senior economist at the website, says cooling in the luxury market is different than in other price tiers. “While the national luxury price is cooling somewhat, in vacation towns like Nantucket, Mass., and Breckenridge Colo., that doesn’t matter much,” Smith said. “Buyers there aren’t paying for square footage. They’re paying for a place that can’t be reproduced anywhere else. You can’t manufacture more coastline or more mountain. That’s a different kind of market, built on a different kind of scarcity.” (source)
