$1 Million Is the New Entry Point for U.S. Luxury Homebuyers

If you're looking to buy a home, be expected to pay up.

luxury
A for sale sign outside a mansion at Miami Beach. (Jeffrey Greenberg/UIG via Getty Images)
UIG via Getty Images

New data from Realtor.com shows that the starting price for the most expensive 5 percent of U.S. residential properties sold in April was at least $1 million. Sales of million-dollar-plus real estate leaped 25 percent from April of last year, reports Bloomberg, even as prices at the top of the market rose 4.6 percent. That marks the biggest sales increase in high-end homes since January 2014, and more than twice this January’s pace. High wages in the tech sector and other industries are fueling demand for properties in Silicon Valley, but also the Seattle and Denver areas, among those with the biggest high-end price increases.

In New York, Bloomberg writes that sticker shock in Manhattan and Brooklyn is pushing buyers into Queens, where the entry-level price for luxury rose 15.9 percent. Meanwhile, in Sarasota, Florida, there was an almost 20 percent jump, most likely from wealthy retirees who are heading south.

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