Luxury home sale prices reached a median of $1.28 million, a record high for the month of October, according to new data from Redfin.
Last month’s price was a 5.5% year-over-year increase. Luxury home prices increased by roughly three times faster than non-luxury prices, which rose 1.8% to a median of $373,249.
Still, closed sales in both the luxury and non-luxury segments remain close to their lowest October levels over the past decade. Luxury home sales were up 2.9% year-over-year and non-luxury sales rose 0.7% – yet Redfin noted both increases are off historically low baselines due to higher mortgage rates and elevated prices. The typical luxury home took 58 days to sell in October, six days longer from a year ago, while non-luxury homes also took six days longer to sell than last year, with a median of 45 days on the market.
“Luxury buyers are still able to move forward in ways that many typical buyers can’t right now, whether that’s because they’re paying in cash, benefiting from stock-market gains, or taking out smaller loans,” said Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari. “Those advantages make them less sensitive to high mortgage rates, which helps keep demand at the top of the market steadier. In contrast, a lot of middle-income buyers are holding off until monthly payments come down or their financial outlook improves.”
Redfin defines luxury homes as those estimated to be in the top 5% of their metro area’s price range, while non-luxury homes fall into the middle 35th–65th percentile.
