Luxury Homes Still Selling Strongly

An article published by Businessweek yesterday discusses the strength of the ultra-luxury home market, despite all of the negativity we hear about housing on a daily basis. Some of the most lavish and luxurious homes our country has ever seen have either just sold or are currently for sale, including the former home of William Randolph Hears and Marion Davies, which is listed right here in Beverly Hills for $165 million, making it the highest asking price for a home in U.S. History.

Even in markets that we hear so much bad news about, the trend is quite clear: the high-end market IS performing. Areas like Las Vegas and Florida, with which we associate the worst of the foreclosure crisis, there are areas of robust sales. Trophy homes are moving- and moving very well. In Las Vegas, the luxury condos on the Strip still have very strong prices and sales. The same goes for Palm Beach, Florida, as well as our very own Beverly Hills. New York is also doing its part to keep up with pace, where recent mind-boggling sales include last year's $103 million oceanfront home in East Hampton, N.Y., and a $49 million townhouse on the Upper East Side which just recently closed.

How can these properties be immune to the mortgage and economic struggles being felt across the nation? Well, there are actually many reasons why these homes continue to move well.

• Quite simply, the mega-rich don't care what's going on in the mortgage markets because it probably won't affect them. If they see a property that they fall in love with, they have the means to cough up the $15 million asking price- CASH.
• The supply of those so-called "trophy" properties is limited- there are only so many of those in the world. And, there are only so many more that can be built without demolishing smaller homes, since land is a limited commodity.
• Foreign buyers are coming to our country in the face of the weak dollar to snatch up what amounts to "bargains" for them.

Who knows if this trend will continue, but for now at least it seems true more than ever...it's good to be rich. :)

Sources: msnbc.com, themls.com