For seven consecutive quarters, price growth in the high-end segment has lagged the bottom 95 percent of the market, which has seen steady year-over-year price growth of around 5 percent for the past two years.

Stock market volatility early in the year followed by global economic uncertainty related to the Chinese economy and Brexit may have dampened price growth, but it didn’t keep luxury clientele from buying. Sales of homes priced above $1 million increased 6.8 percent in the third quarter from a year prior. Sales of homes priced above $5 million were mostly flat, inching up a mere 0.4 percent.

The supply of homes for sale priced above $1 million fell 2.4 percent in the third quarter from a year prior, while those priced above $5 million increased 17.2 percent.

“The luxury market improved in the third quarter, but its recovery was incomplete at best. Price growth lags in the more affordable segment of the housing market and sales at the very high end were stuck in neutral,” said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson. “The super high-end homes are particularly out of sync with the rest of the market and seem to be bending toward a price correction given the tepid sales growth and double-digit pop in inventory at price points over $5 million.”

Q3 Market Summary	Luxury Market (Top 5%)	Rest of Market (Bottom 95%)
Average Sale Price	$1.60 million	$315,000
Avg Sale Price YoY	1.4%	5.0%
Avg Sale Price QoQ	-3.2%	0.6%
Average Days on Market	75	59
Days on Market YoY	Same as last year	8 fewer days than last year
Percent of Homes that Sold Above List Price	1.2%	21.9%

Biggest Winners

Several cities in Florida’s Palm Beach County saw significant luxury price gains in the third quarter. In Delray Beach, the average luxury home sold for $2.98 million, a 70 percent increase over last year. Luxury prices surged 38 percent in Boca Raton and 21.8 percent in West Palm Beach.

Alex Garcia, a Redfin agent in Palm Beach County, said that the boom in luxury prices is due to new building in waterfront areas and reurbanization of downtown areas.

“We are seeing builders tearing down older homes on waterfront and water-accessible properties and rebuilding with all the bells and whistles of a modern property,” said Garcia. “Luxury buyers in Delray and Boca are drawn to single-family homes with water access, but also proximity to revitalized downtown areas with trendy restaurants and shopping. While vacation homes make up some of our luxury market, we also have a lot of affluent buyers who live here as a primary residence.”

Luxury Market (Top 5%)		Rest of Market (Bottom 95%)
City	Average Sale Price	YoY Change	Average Sale Price	YoY Change
Delray Beach, FL	$2,980,000	70.4%	$254,000	21.5%
Boca Raton, FL	$2,595,000	37.7%	$338,000	13.4%
Boston, MA	$4,124,000	33.8%	$669,000	15.5%
Hollywood, FL	$1,209,000	27.1%	$246,000	6.0%
Seattle, WA	$2,121,000	24.8%	$592,000	13.2%
San Francisco, CA	$4,880,000	22.1%	$1,190,000	1.1%
West Palm Beach, FL	$1,321,000	21.8%	$196,000	9.5%
Tampa, FL	$1,173,000	18.8%	$225,000	15.4%
Scottsdale, AZ	$2,044,000	18.0%	$419,000	0.7%
St. Petersburg, FL	$1,126,000	16.3%	$197,000	13.9%
Fort Lauderdale, FL	$2,283,000	16.1%	$314,000	0.6%
Bend, OR	$1,197,000	11.6%	$404,000	9.8%
Reno, NV	$1,041,000	9.9%	$308,000	8.5%
Charlotte, NC	$1,013,000	8.8%	$236,000	7.8%
Denver, CO	$1,357,000	8.8%	$376,000	12.6%