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Trends in luxury real estate

Written by Properstar Marketing | Mar 11, 2021 4:22:09 PM

On March 11, 2021, we talked with real estate agents and their offices about the state of the luxury market in North America and we looked at some key market trends in U.S. real estate.  Despite Covid, it is an exciting time to be in real estate and we enjoyed having a conversation with agents about their experiences, too.

Speaker, Byron Burley, President of sales for North America – Oceania made the presentation. The team at ListGlobally has noticed a surprising number of agents mentioning the resilience of their local markets and the uptick in the interest they are seeing for luxury properties.

ListGlobally Advantage

Webinar participants included clients of ours through a partnership we have in place with their brand, CRM or MLS.  This partnership is important because ListGlobally provides global exposure for their real estate listings and access to millions of international buyers, at a lower price. ListGlobally clients differentiate themselves from other agents through our powerful hub by enjoying the ListGlobally advantage.

What is influencing U.S. real estate?

We introduced some topics and invited participants to comment. Here are some of the discussion points:

Recent Elections in the U.S.

For some, there is a renewed optimism with the recent outcome of the elections in the U.S. There is a general assumption that inter-country relations will normalize, which will lead to more consumers having confidence in purchasing abroad.

COVID-19

The impacts of Covid on the real estate market are a new experience for all of us.  The Covid lockdowns have created some interesting challenges in the industry and have led to many people working from home. Despite restrictions, the real estate markets in many major urban centers flourished in 2020. At ListGlobally, we have seen an increase in the number of listings being published and properties are coming off the market quicker. See our 2020 Report for more details.

Changing Work Environment

We’ve all gotten a bit less formal as Zoom meetings replace the boardroom. The reality is that many share their office space with family and pets present and home spaces are being reconfigured to accommodate work, exercise, and other activities.

Mental Health

Mental Health has been a common topic lately, especially as North America enters its second year of pandemic measures.  People have been leaving the stresses of urban life for a simpler existence out in the suburbs.

Changes in consumer behavior

As Millennials enter the housing market in greater numbers, they're approaching it in a much different way than previous generations of home buyers.  For example, technology plays a big part in millennial house-hunting, with this generation turning to mobile devices to search, view properties and communicate with real estate agents.

Watch the webinar

If you missed it, take a look at the full presentation to see how these factors affected agents - and more!

Evolving luxury market in North America

While the rest of the world is speculating on how markets will recover in 2021, it appears that luxury markets are doing well in these times and are expected to continue to do so. Limited inventory of move-in ready, luxury homes has forced prices up and high-end homeowners, who for years have rented out their investment properties, are now putting them on the market knowing that they can command top dollar from affluent clients.

Here are some interesting stats about the US housing market data through February 21, 2021:

  • Asking prices of newly listed homes hit a new all-time high of $343,961, up 11% from the same time a year ago.
  • Pending home sales were up 18% year over year.
  • New listings of homes for sale were down 17% from a year earlier.
  • Active listings fell 40% from 2020 to a new all-time low.
  • 55% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market, well above the 44% rate during the same period a year ago.
  • 43% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within one week of hitting the market, up from 30% during the same period a year earlier. This is also an all-time high for this measure.

Luxury Market Drivers

The discussion then turned to what may be driving this activity in the luxury market. Some factors include a surging financial market and an appreciation of luxury real estate values. The work | life balance may have already been a trend that was expediated and cemented by the pandemic in 2020. As we move forward, there is an expectation that this will be a lasting trend and suburban, rural, and resort locations will be the beneficiaries. The trend for multi-functional open concept living has now been replaced with adapting the home to create more private and quieter spaces, as we now work, exercise, and entertain within the home environment.

Markets where we see an increase in interest for luxury properties

We wanted to focus on major U.S. cities (other than New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) that are really starting to see keen interest from consumers, like Austin and Tampa.

The continued popularity of vacation homes is indicative of the rise in remote work due to the coronavirus pandemic. The demand for second homes represents the K-shaped economic recovery with many lower-income Americans suffering financially, while many high earners benefit from skyrocketing home values and well-performing stock portfolios.

United States statistics show:

  • Home prices in seasonal towns rose 19% year over year in December 2020.
  • Demand for vacation homes in the U.S. spiked 84% in early 2021.
  • U.S. home values are rising by double digits in both seasonal and non-seasonal towns, but seasonal towns are seeing bigger increases.

Foreign Buyers

Next, we took a look at the trends and data from foreign buyer activity.

  • Foreign buyer median purchase price was $40K higher than the median price for all existing homes sold to U.S. residents in 2020.
  • Chinese investment in the U.S slowed in 2020, but Canadian investment increased from $31B to 108B$ in 2020.
  • Foreign interest for real estate in Florida and California were both led by Canadians.

Luxury Market - Austin, Texas

The luxury market in Austin is really picking up. A few reasons were discussed:

  • Elon Musk with Tesla and other large Silicon Valley groups, like Google are leaving California for Austin.
  • Buyers are moving to Austin’s suburbs to adapt to a new work from home culture.
  • Due to a steady influx of job creation, the housing market is expected to post strong numbers well into 2021.
  • Home sales across the Austin-Round Rock MSA are up 16.2% year over year.
  • Sales dollar volume increased by a whopping 41.1% to $1,784,023,513 — an all-time record.
  • The Metro Luxury index, January 2020 shows that the yearly change for luxury property in Austin-Round Rock is up 6.16%

ListGlobally lead source data on luxury in Texas

  • In the past 13 months, 26.6% of leads for luxury properties in Texas came from consumers in the UK.
  • On average, 35.2% of all searches for properties in Texas are for luxury properties.
  • Luxury sales in Texas to foreign buyers were at least $995M during this period

Luxury Market -Tampa, Florida

The luxury real estate market’s success in both Tampa Bay and Florida as a whole, is just one example of how some industries that rely on people with disposable income, have been flourishing during the pandemic.

  • More than 90% of the economists and real estate experts surveyed by the Tampa Bay Times last year expected the Tampa real estate market to meet or exceed the performance of the national housing market this year.
  • The housing market in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is forecast to be one of the most active real estate markets in 2021.
  • A price jump of 8.7%is expected for the area, Tampa Bay Business Journal.
  • Steady job growth by higher-paying professional and business services is causing a rapidly rising demand for housing in Tampa and Hillsborough County.
  • The rental market is strong and Tampa is ranked as one of the best places to be in the U.S.

ListGlobally lead source data on luxury in Florida

  • On average, 14.8% of all searches for properties in Florida are for luxury properties.
  • 94% of consumers inquiring for properties in Florida from the UAE were looking for luxury properties.
  • In the past 13 months, luxury sales in Florida to foreign buyers were at least  84M$.

Luxury market in North America

Top states where luxury listings are located as of February 2021.

Luxury Network benefits

ListGlobally recently launched a dedicated luxury network, providing agents with access to leading luxury portals like Mansion Global, Juwai, Belle Demereurs, Properties Le Figaro, and others. The audience for these portals is 50+ Million consumers monthly.  For more on Luxury by ListGlobally visit our website:

Luxury by ListGlobally

We thank those agents who participated in the webinar and look forward to hosting future discussions where we can share expertise and experiences.

More about ListGlobally

ListGlobally operates the largest global network of property portals in the world, advertising across +100 property portals in over 60 countries, reaching a monthly consumer audience of over 200 Million potential buyers.

Questions? We invite you to reach out to us or open a chat with us on listglobally.com. 

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If you are a Real Estate Professional or property seller and you’d like to expand your international network, advertise, or engage with international property buyers, contact us at ListGlobally.