Texas Luxury Homes Were Fastest-Growing Market Segment in 2017

Luxury real estate was the fastest-growing segment of Texas’ residential real estate market in 2017, with both sales volume and sales dollar volume experiencing double digit increases, according to the Texas Luxury Home Sales Report by the Texas Association of REALTORS®. For the purposes of the report, luxury homes were qualified as single-family home sales priced at $1 million and higher, with the statistics based on November 2016 through October 2017 for Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. Luxury home sales increased 19.1 percent in Texas from November 2016 to October 2017 to 4,622 sales, with dollar volume increasing 19.9 percent to $7,558,278,236. All of the metropolitan areas also experienced double-digit growth in sales volume. When compared to the overall market, the difference becomes clear, as sales volume increased 4.5 percent for all homes and dollar volume increased 10.7 percent for all homes. Luxury homes were only 1.4 percent of the total of residential sales but equaled 8.3 percent of residential sales dollar volume. Prices for luxury homes, however, were flat. The median price remained steady at $1,350,000 for the first 10 months of 2016 and for October 2017. The average price per square foot for luxury homes was $349, which was $227 higher than average price per square foot across all price points. Luxury homes spent an average of 98 days on the market for the first 10 months of 2017. Active listings for luxury homes increased 9.8 percent compared to the same time period in 2016, with new listings and pending sales both experiencing double-digit increases.