Condominiums at 776 Boylston St. (foreground) can fetch tens of millions of dollars, similar to many homes elsewhere in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. iStock photo
New England is home to some of the most expensive luxury markets, according to new reports – and they’re getting more expensive.
Cape Cod is ninth in the nation based on the median sales price of its luxury homes, according to a new Realtor.com analysis. The top 10 percent of homes on the peninsula start at $3.5 million, a 9.3 percent increase year-over-year.
But it’s not the only high-end market in Massachusetts: Greater Boston was the 11th most expensive luxury market in the nation, according to a separate analysis from Redfin. The median sales price was $2.68 million, a 3.2 percent increase in price year-over-year.
The price run-ups come even though the spring market opened with a year-on-year increase in combined luxury single-family and condominium inventory and questions about the health of Boston’s luxury condo market.
“Luxury prices are outpacing the rest of the market because the people buying at the top end are playing by different rules,” Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari said in a statement “They’re not waiting for rates to drop or prices to fall—they have the cash, stock gains, and long-term confidence to act when they see a home they want. Some high-end buyers are also using real estate as a safe place to park their money amid economic uncertainty. That demand, even at a smaller scale, is enough to keep pushing luxury prices up faster than the broader market.”
But price appreciation isn’t the norm for every luxury market. While there was price appreciation in Massachusetts’ two most expensive luxury markets, the nation’s fourth-most expensive luxury market saw a dip in prices.
In Connecticut’s Fairfield County, a rich exurb of New York City, the top 10 percent of homes start at $4.26 million, Realtor.com data shows. This represented a 7.3 percent drop year-over-year. In Naples, Florida, the starting price for luxury homes fell 4.4 percent to $3.39 million.
“We’re seeing a healthy rebalancing in the luxury home market after years of volatility,” Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, said in a statement. “The modest softening in luxury prices points to a market where buyers and sellers are adjusting expectations in line with broader economic conditions. In many cases, demand remains strong for well-priced homes, especially those that deliver distinctive space, quality or location.”
The national luxury price threshold fell to $1.24 million in September, Hale and her colleagues found, a fourth consecutive month of declines. The starting price of the high-end luxury tier, which Realtor.com defined as the 95th percentile of the market by price, dropped 1.2 percent to $1.95 million, while start of the ultra-luxury segment (the 99th percentile by price) dipped 0.2 percent to $5.41 million.
The number of luxury homes for sale increased by 7.7 percent year over year to the highest September level since 2020, according to Redfin. But luxury home sales were essentially flat from a year earlier, seeing only a 0.3 percent increase in sales. That’s near the lowest September levels in records going back to 2012.
Luxury homes also continue to take longer to sell compared with the overall market. In September, America’s luxury homes spent a median of 79 days on the market, one day longer than August and five days longer than a year ago.
