Post by Admin on Aug 2, 2016 17:38:15 GMT -4
As the housing recovery now moves in fits and still-weak starts, the super-pricey segment is sizzling. Sales of the most expensive 1 percent of homes in the U.S. are up 21 percent this year, according to a report from Redfin, a Seattle-based real estate brokerage. Sales in the remaining 99 percent are down 7.6 percent.
“There are haves and have nots, and the haves are the ones out buying,” Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said.
Ten local housing markets have seen sales growth above 50 percent this year, not surprisingly the top three in tech-heavy Northern California. Long Island, home to the hoity-toitiest Hamptons homes, has seen sales up 72 percent, and Seattle and Miami aren’t far behind.
“The stock market had a record year and now it’s begun to plateau, and so you see people moving their money out of the equity market and into the housing market,” said Kelman.
Compare this growth to the rest of the market, the other 99 percent, and the divergence between haves and have-nots is striking. Sales of the top 1 percent in San Jose are up 91 percent, while in the rest of the market sales are down over 7 percent. Even in the boom-to-bust markets that saw the biggest fall during the housing crash, the disparity is wide. Sales of Phoenix’s priciest homes are up 24 percent, while the rest of the market is down nearly 16 percent.
Candy
