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10th September 2014, 04:34 PM
Luxury Homes: Priced to Sell at $30 Million
The most expensive homes are spending less time on the market
By Stefanos Chen
Sept. 10, 2014 3:08 p.m. ET
This 32-acre lakefront estate, formerly owned by director Ron Howard, sold in less than three months for $27.5 million. Daniel Milstein
Want to sell your home fast? Maybe you should list it for over $30 million.
Luxury homes are selling faster than last year, according to data through July from listing website Realtor.com. And while bigger price tags typically mean more days on the market, homes listed for over $30 million spent less time idling than their (slightly) less expensive counterparts.
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According to Realtor.com, the median age of listings ranged from 80 days for homes listed at less than $1 million, to 180 days for homes just under $30 million. Above $30 million, median time on market dropped to 139 days. That is partly due to the fact that some of these homes are marketed quietly before hitting the market, and partly because this segment is attracting a more engaged group of buyers, said Jonathan Smoke, Realtor.com's chief economist. Across all price points, the national median age of listings is 82 days, down from 85 in July 2013.
The change has been dramatic in Vail, Colo., where it was common for homes above $15 million to linger on the market for more than two years. Now they're "trading in months, not years, and sometimes in weeks," said Tye Stockton, an agent with Ascent Sotheby's International Realty, pointing to a home listed at $19.9 million that went into contract in under 45 days. Like many, Mr. Stockton attributed the change to the uptick in the stock market as well as the improving economy.
Not only are these houses moving fast; many are commanding near-record prices a square foot, he added.
In Greenwich, Conn., Tamar Lurie with Coldwell Banker is expecting about 20 sales above $10 million this year, which is roughly twice the number sold last year. In July, she was one of two agents who sold the Armonk, N.Y., home of Ron Howard for $27.5 million. Ms. Lurie said they had an accepted offer in the first week, and the house sold at asking price in less than three months.
The change is happening at all levels of the luxury market. Billy Rose, co-founder of the real-estate brokerage the Agency in Beverly Hills, Calif., said average time on market for homes in Los Angeles over $1 million was just 67 days in the second quarter. In one case, a roughly $2 million listing in Hancock Park lingered on the market last year before being taken down. This month, the same home came back on the market and sold above asking price in one day.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/luxury-homes-priced-to-sell-at-30-million-1410376104
The most expensive homes are spending less time on the market
By Stefanos Chen
Sept. 10, 2014 3:08 p.m. ET
This 32-acre lakefront estate, formerly owned by director Ron Howard, sold in less than three months for $27.5 million. Daniel Milstein
Want to sell your home fast? Maybe you should list it for over $30 million.
Luxury homes are selling faster than last year, according to data through July from listing website Realtor.com. And while bigger price tags typically mean more days on the market, homes listed for over $30 million spent less time idling than their (slightly) less expensive counterparts.
More From Spread Sheet
According to Realtor.com, the median age of listings ranged from 80 days for homes listed at less than $1 million, to 180 days for homes just under $30 million. Above $30 million, median time on market dropped to 139 days. That is partly due to the fact that some of these homes are marketed quietly before hitting the market, and partly because this segment is attracting a more engaged group of buyers, said Jonathan Smoke, Realtor.com's chief economist. Across all price points, the national median age of listings is 82 days, down from 85 in July 2013.
The change has been dramatic in Vail, Colo., where it was common for homes above $15 million to linger on the market for more than two years. Now they're "trading in months, not years, and sometimes in weeks," said Tye Stockton, an agent with Ascent Sotheby's International Realty, pointing to a home listed at $19.9 million that went into contract in under 45 days. Like many, Mr. Stockton attributed the change to the uptick in the stock market as well as the improving economy.
Not only are these houses moving fast; many are commanding near-record prices a square foot, he added.
In Greenwich, Conn., Tamar Lurie with Coldwell Banker is expecting about 20 sales above $10 million this year, which is roughly twice the number sold last year. In July, she was one of two agents who sold the Armonk, N.Y., home of Ron Howard for $27.5 million. Ms. Lurie said they had an accepted offer in the first week, and the house sold at asking price in less than three months.
The change is happening at all levels of the luxury market. Billy Rose, co-founder of the real-estate brokerage the Agency in Beverly Hills, Calif., said average time on market for homes in Los Angeles over $1 million was just 67 days in the second quarter. In one case, a roughly $2 million listing in Hancock Park lingered on the market last year before being taken down. This month, the same home came back on the market and sold above asking price in one day.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/luxury-homes-priced-to-sell-at-30-million-1410376104