First-time buyers or not, studies show that the staple three-bedroom home will soon be viewed as minimalistic, and a four-bedroom model will become the new normal. The share of new homes with three bedrooms dropped from 53 percent in 2009 to 46 percent in 2012, and new houses with four or more bedrooms made up 41 percent of the market last year, their highest percentage as of yet.
Newly built properties are not the only sector of the high-end home market to show improvement. Existing single-family luxury homes are also increasing in popularity.
“We see a strong increase in sales of properties costing $750,000 and more, although upper end properties are still a fairly small market share,” says Walter Maloney of the National Association of REALTORS®. According to NAR, over the past year, homes with prices ranging between $750,000 and 1 million dollars have been up an average of 49.8 percent across the entire US. The West is leading the way in luxe property sales, with homes priced within this range showing a 63.9 percent increase.
For homes priced over a million dollars, sales are up 36.3 percent across the US from May 2012, with the Northeast showing a 24.8 percent increase, the Midwest coming in at 48 percent, the south at 24.9 percent, and the West at 49.8 percent.
“The improved economy and a strong increase in the equity markets over the past year are driving factors, along with pent-up demand,” says Maloney.
According to a recent RISMedia interview with Paul Boomsma, president of Luxury Portfolio International, a division of the Chicago-based Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®, where Boomsma serves as COO, real estate firms that specialize in the highest-priced properties, whether their operation is large or small, must offer better service, more products, better information and direction.
