Luxury Home Sales Bounce Back!

Posted on May 31st, 2010 in Real Estate News, World Real Estate News

Share

 

 

cougar customAfter a near-disastrous 2009, the luxury market appears to be making a comeback, driven by growing buyer confidence, improved financing conditions and more-realistic seller pricing. Despite the housing downturn, attractively priced homes in some of the nation's most coveted neighborhoods are selling, sometimes fast and sometimes with multiple offers. Nationwide, sales of homes selling for $2 million to $5 million in the first quarter totaled 2,461, up 32% from a year before.

That sales are up from last year shouldn't come as a big surprise. The shock of the financial panic in the fall of 2008 left many potential buyers too nervous to bid, and those who were willing to wade in found it hard to get financing. But a study for The Wall Street Journal by MDA DataQuick, a real-estate data provider, found that in some areas of the country, sales of homes over $2 million in the first quarter were actually on par with the levels of 2005, the peak year for existing-home sales volume nationwide. What is to note, however, is the fact that those $2 million homes were likely $4-5 million back in 2005.

In Coeur d'Alene, sales of $1 million homes tend to come in the mid to late summer months when second home buyers have come back to the market to rid themselves of the desert heat or southwest humidity. So only time will tell if this trend seen around the nation holds up for the Coeur d'Alene real estate market.