• Wealthy consumers under age 55 are more than twice as likely (23 percent) to value Green or LEED certified residential properties than their older counterparts (11 percent).
• Open floor plans and a fully automated and “wired” home environment are the top features wealthy consumers, regardless of age, say have become important to them in the last three years. Less importance is placed on staff quarters, tennis/sports courts and separate catering kitchens.
“Luxury homes are for more than successful and retired empty nesters,” says Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute. “Today’s luxury buyer is both dynamic and diverse, and it’s reflected in the homes and products they’re buying.”
Additional Survey Findings
• They may jet set internationally, but they are buying in the U.S. Only 6 percent of wealthy homeowners surveyed own residential property located outside the United States.
• For majority of luxury buyers, location is the most important factor when considering the purchase of residential property. Seventy (70) percent of wealthy consumers identified location as the most important factor in their last residential purchase. Other elements included the condition of the property – brand new with no work required, as opposed to needing major renovations (10 percent), price (8 percent), home amenities (6 percent) and view (6 percent). The most commonly cited reason for wealthy consumers not considering the purchase of a residential property was the desire to keep assets liquid (24 percent).
