The luxury real estate market, specifically Manhattan, had reached record numbers for early 2016. Unfortunately, other luxury markets have had shaky runs for the start of the year, according to a recent report from Yahoo.com.
The report was based on newly released data done by Miller Samuel, an appraisal firm and Douglas Elliman, a brokerage firm. Miller Samuel CEO and President Jonathan Miller said, "The housing market in general is softer at the top than it is in the middle and lower parts of the market, perhaps because they peaked sooner. The last four or five years have all been about the luxury market. Now, we're leveling off a bit."
Miller added, "Those two housing markets are both at the hip with Wall Street. But they're performing very differently and the markets are very different."
Houses that are priced at the top of the luxury market felt a decline in demand compared to the last quarter of 2015. The average sale price of a home in the Hamptons, one of the luxury neighborhoods in the US, was at $8.8 million for the first quarter of 2016. In 2015, a similar home in the same luxury neighborhood was at $12.3 million.
While the luxury market in the US is in decline, the UK market is foreseen to further expand in the next ten years. It was projected that about 35,000 prime quality homes are to be built in London. This was a 40 percent rise from 2015, as reported on PropertyWire.
Should all these luxury homes be sold in the year, the total sale volume would reach £77 billion. The additional floor space would be at 40 million square feet. In comparison, the total floor area of the City of London is a mere 30.7 million square feet.
The said homes would be built in 196 separate locations within the city, as confirmed by consultancy firm Arcadis. The projected construction is viewed as 'significant growth' from 2015's volume, a testament to the favorable growth of the high end residential sector of London.
