Is $40 million the new price of luxury?

new price of luxury

According to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal, new luxury home listing and sales at $40 million are becoming the norm across the country. The article “The New Price of Luxury: $40 Million,” explains how this has become a standard asking price for high-end real estate.

“We’ve had this creation of a new market category unlike anything that’s ever been seen before,” said Jonathan Miller, a Manhattan-based appraiser. “Five or 10 years ago, a $40 million sale or listing was an outlier. And today it’s almost commonplace.”

According to the real estate website Trulia, more than 300 homes were listed over the last year at $35 million to $49 million, which is an increase of 24% from the prior year.

What is fueling these super-luxury home sales? One factor is the creation of global wealth; something I have been blogging about a lot lately. Just last week, I shared “Buyers from China, Hong Kong, Korea and South East Asia are making huge investments in prime Napa Valley Real Estate,” explaining why and how the state of California is attracting most of these international investors, including right here Napa. In another post, “Chinese Buyers Invest in Napa Valley Real Estate,” I discussed vineyard and winery sales to Asian buyers in Napa Valley. I also posted “What I learned at the 2015 ARREA Global & Luxury Summit on doing Business with Asia,” sharing tips on attracting the growing number of investors from Asia and the Pacific Rim.

All my research into the topic has shown how overseas and domestic buyers today are looking to invest in hard assets. That demand is resulting in increasingly high market values, especially for the site component, in prime locations. In return for high sale prices, these buyers are asking that home comes fully furnished, because they often have other homes and don’t want to spend time picking out furniture.

If you are ready to list your luxury home or are looking for a luxury property in any price range in Napa Valley or Sonoma, please contact me at 707-738-4820 or email [email protected]. I am happy to share my insider information on quiet offerings of wineries, vineyards, estates, new construction and homes here, as well as the extraordinary properties that are not available on the open market.