This Month In Real Estate – February 2018
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Daily Archives: February 7, 2018
Luxury Portfolio International® Report Reveals Preferences of Luxury Real Estate Buyers of the Future
Fueled by inherited wealth, the New Aristocracy seeks larger homes in urban areas
Chicago, IL – Feb. 6, 2018 (PRNewswire) New research commissioned by Luxury Portfolio International®, the luxury face of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®, predicts that younger buyers will continue to energize the luxury real estate market. The report, titled, The Rise of the New Aristocracy, was released at the Luxury Portfolio SUMMIT in Las Vegas on January 29, 2018. The United States is seeing a dramatic surge in the number of affluent households. The New Aristocracy, defined as affluent consumers aged 25-49, exhibit a strong preference (78%) for large homes with square footage over 5,000 square feet, generally grew up with wealth and anticipate inheriting on average $4M. The implications this will have for luxury real estate are significant.
“This group is unlike any American generation before it,” noted Luxury Portfolio International® executive vice president Stephanie Anton. “Their economic power and conversance with the world of luxury make them savvy consumers with very refined and focused tastes.”
The New Aristocracy is primarily looking to purchase urban residences near plenty of dining options and contrary to popular belief, They are interested in a wide variety of home styles including Victorian, Brick Georgian and Tudor as well as Modern. While they may be seeking classic aesthetics on the outside, the homes must satisfy the increasing demand for the latest technology with modern security systems and state-of-the art, commercial grade kitchen appliances.
The New Aristocracy is in contrast to the more traditional luxury buyer, who is defined as the Luxury Loyalist, a buyer over 50 who is interested in downsizing and sharing both their wealth and their knowledge with the next generation. The majority of these buyers (68%) are searching for suburban homes under 5,000 square feet. Compared to the New Aristocracy, Luxury Loyalists have less interest in technology features and more interest in features for relaxing and enjoyment such as outdoor patio space.
Additional findings from The Rise of the New Aristocracy report:
- Over half of luxury buyers under 50 (53%) are seeking a home over 7,500 square feet whose size is driven by lifestyle demands and specialty spaces rather than necessarily beds and baths.
- The New Aristocracy is twice as likely as Luxury Loyalists to say pools are essential and nearly three times as likely to consider a spa/Jacuzzi essential
- Most sought-after community amenities for the luxury buyer include a gym, walking trails and valet parking. 55% of The New Aristocracy consider proximity to dining an essential feature for their next home.
- Top desired features for luxury buyers over 50 include outdoor patios, dedicated laundry rooms, master suites with two closets and a butler’s pantry
- Older buyers see smart homes and security monitoring as nice-to-have features rather than essentials. They do not want to learn a new system if they can avoid it.
“For luxury real estate agents, understanding the buying preferences of The New Aristocracy is very important. This buyer has very defined tastes and seeks a residence that matches and augments their high-performance lifestyle,” added Anton.
Luxury Portfolio International partnered with YouGov to create this survey of real estate demands and expectations among high-net-worth consumers in America. To download the complete report with all findings, please visit http://www.luxuryportfolio.com/whitepaper.
About Luxury Portfolio International®
Luxury Portfolio International® (www.luxuryportfolio.com) is the luxury face of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®, the largest global network of premier locally branded companies dominated by many of the world’s most powerful independent luxury brokerages. Luxury Portfolio International® attracts a global audience of visitors from over 200 countries/territories every month and marketed over 50,000 luxury homes to over three million high-net-worth visitors last year.
Contact: Audie Chamberlain
Phone: (310) 562-5114
Email: press@lionandorb.com
Redfin Survey: 15% Of Respondents Sold Their Home Or Did Not Buy Last Year Due To Concerns About Immigration Policies
37% of People of Color Felt they May Have Been Discriminated Against When Trying to Buy a Home
Seattle, WA – Feb. 6th, 2018 (PRNewswire) (NASDAQ: RDFN) Fifteen percent of respondents to a 2017 housing market sentiment survey said they either sold their home or did not buy one last year because of concerns about how restrictive immigration policies or proposals would affect them, according to Redfin (www.redfin.com), the next-generation real estate brokerage. From November 1 to December 6, 2017, Redfin commissioned a survey of 4,270 U.S. residents in 14 metropolitan areas who bought or sold a home in the past year, attempted to do so or planned to do so soon.
Asked how restrictive immigration policies or proposals affected their decision to buy or sell a home, 8 percent of respondents said they sold their home in the last year because they were worried they wouldn’t be able to stay or work in the U.S. much longer. Seven percent did not purchase a home for the same reason.
“I’ve seen buyers finally get offers accepted, only to cancel the contracts,” said Gabriella Stwart, a Redfin agent in Bellevue, Washington. “We’re having conversations with professionals working at large companies who are eager to sell or not buying because their visas are expiring or close to it and might not be extended.”
The survey results reveal that housing markets in certain parts of the country are more likely to be affected by immigration policy. Among respondents in the Los Angeles area, 32.7 percent said they sold or did not buy a home because they were worried they wouldn’t be able to work or stay in the country much longer. In Baltimore, 18.5 percent said the same, as well as 16.8 percent in San Francisco.
Other findings in this first in a series of three reports on this survey include:
- 18% of millennials who bought a home in the last year now live in the political minority in their new community.
- 37% of people of color felt they may have been discriminated against when trying to buy a home, down from 43% in a similar survey in May.
“The two data points we have about the perception of discrimination in housing reveal just a snapshot of what amounts to a short moment in our country’s long history of racial inequality in housing, and change in the actual incidence of such discrimination is likely to happen only slowly over many years,” said Nela Richardson, Redfin chief economist. “It’s more likely that that the trend we see in this snapshot reveals an aberration last year around the contentious Presidential election, when racial tensions and anxiety about discrimination were heightened. However, when it comes to where people can live, work and go to school, the idea that more than a third of people of color buying a home still don’t believe that their money is as good as anyone else’s is a massive problem.”
To read the full report, complete with data, charts and a full methodology, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/blog/2018/02/immigration-policies-caused-15percent-to-sell-or-not-buy.html.
About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is the next-generation real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the consumer’s favor. Founded by software engineers, Redfin has the country’s #1 brokerage website and offers a host of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate, the automated home-value estimate with the industry’s lowest published error rate for listed homes. Homebuyers and sellers enjoy a full-service, technology-powered experience from Redfin real estate agents, while saving thousands in commissions. Redfin serves more than 80 major metro areas across the U.S. The company has closed more than $50 billion in home sales.