Is the accumulation of unsold nine-figure homes “the ultimate bubble signal” and warning of a housing crash? The New York Times suggests it is.
The newspaper reports that a record-high 27 properties worth at least $100 million are listed for sale. This is up from 19 in 2015 and roughly a dozen in 2014. If you add in private sellers then the real number of nine-figure listings globally could surpass 50.
“When you have a record number of homes for sale at a price point of $100 million or more, that tells you these homes aren’t selling. It’s not as deep a market as some might hope,” said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel Inc., a real estate appraisal and research firm.
According to the newspaper, the jump in $100 million real estate listings is occurring at about the same time as the sale of luxury real estate continues to wane. Investors have been building so-called hyperprice homes as part of speculation, and these reached their peak in 2008, just before the pop in the housing bubble.
Overall, just 15 nine-figure homes in the world have been sold between 2011 and 2016, with a third of these properties selling in 2014.
Miller added: “The era of aspirational pricing is over, and I’m not sure it ever really worked. These prices get headlines, but the properties just don’t sell.”
Leave a Comment