Dive Brief:
- The market for $100 million-plus homes has dwindled, leaving all but a handful of property owners to reduce their prices, take the homes off the market or wish for the best and leave their properties listed as they are currently, according to Forbes.
- Real estate experts said the seemingly booming market for the nine-figure properties was never actually a market but really only "closely spaced anomalies," Forbes reported.
- While cities like New York and Miami have seen a cooling of even the $10 million-plus market, Los Angeles continues to set sales records for high-end luxury properties.
Dive Insight:
Experts said the highest-end luxury market in Miami, for example, has slowed due to a strong dollar, which has discouraged potential Latin American buyers — once major investors in the Miami market.
"I think the peak buying period has already passed us in South Florida," Peter Zalewski of CraneSpotters told Forbes. "(The high-end market is) effectively dead on arrival."
However, that isn't the case in Los Angeles. A steady stream of buyers saw 482 sales of $5 million or more each in 2015, up from 442 in 2014, Forbes reported. Of 2015’s sales, 37 were for $20 million or more, with only 10 going to foreign nationals.
The overall shift away from $100 million homes is a reversal of recent years, which saw growth in the super-luxury market — as the high-end market was the first to recover after the housing crash. The trend could be good news for the residential industry, as experts have advised builders to focus their attention on affordability and starter home options for first-time buyers.