As a member of the Christies Great Estates network, Sonnenalp Real Estate is privy to a great deal of high end real estate market news. According to a press release on January 23, 2008 entitled “The State of the High End Market”, things are going very well indeed - despite the evident slow down in the rest of the market. According to reports from Chisties Members:
Brown Harris Stevens in Manhattan has seen a 51% spike in the average price of condominiums.
According to Avram Goldman of Pacific Union, San Francisco is faring well in the north and south. The high end in San Francisco is strong and vibrant.
Charles Manger of Brown Harris Stevens, Hamptons and North Fork says that according to their database, 50 homes priced over $5 Million have either sold, gone to contract or had an offer accepted in the past 2 months.
Brown Harris Stevens in Palm Beach: Sales have remained steady with the number of single family homes sold increasing by 12% in 2007 (compared to 2006) and the average price of a single-family house has rizen nearly 16% in 2007 to $5.3 million.
The San Antonio market is phenomental according to Phyllis Browning, Phyllis Browning and Company. “We are experiencing multi-offers on residential properties, and there are buyers for $2 Million plus homes. In the last week of December and in the first week of January, our office closed two properties, each over $4 Million.”
Jeff Hyland, Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills: All our high ent properties ($10 million and above) are selling for more than they would have a year ago. We continue to have little inventory and any seller who does not sell today can easily wait another year. In the rarefied air of expensive properties, no one needs to sell until they get a price they are happy with. If any house were to drop twenty percent there would be a mad rush to purchase with people jumping over each other to get an acceptance. A property just came on the market at $85,000,000 on Friday and there have been 11 showings so far-two were mine. We just closed two week ago on the most expensive sale ever in Pacific Palisades at $16,000,000.
So……It seems that reports of the death of the real estate industry are a little blown out of proportion. We here in Vail’s upper end market are experiencing a truly excellent market with sales of 5 properties over $5,000 since January 1. Admittedly, the “sub prime” disaster is just exactly that: a disaster. So far the Vail Valley has been insulated from what is happening in other parts of the country and in lower income markets. Our real estate market continues to perform in a Blue Chip manner!
