The real estate market as well as the demand for large luxury homes has gone way up since the pandemic began. Economists thought this section of the real estate market would suffer the most. However, what we’re actually seeing is luxury home prices going through the roof.
The main reason for the booming market is that people are looking for more space to get outside and be active. As a result of the pandemic, travel and other activities are mostly shut down so people need to be able to do everything at home. People are also looking for more home office space now that they are working from their homes. The rise in prices is also partly due to the shortage of lumber and other building supplies created by the pandemic.
People are transitioning their lives from the big cities into large, single-family homes. The preferred locations to buy luxury homes seem to be in popular US vacation destinations like Hawaii and Florida. The Hawaii real estate market put up some seriously big numbers last month and we’ve got to talk about these celebs with homes in Hawaii and Washington state.
Paul Allen estate mansion sells for $43 million on the Big Island
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen paid $11 million for his 22-acre property in 1997. The property includes miles of beach, a large pool, and 2 houses. The main house is almost 10,000 square feet with 5 bedrooms and 5.5 baths. The second house is about 3,000 square feet having 6 bedrooms and 5.5 baths. The 22-acre property sold for $43 million. This sale sets the record for the largest price recorded for a single-family home on the Big Island according to Pacific Business News. The buyer’s name is unknown.
Another large property in Hawaii sold 4 days later on July 30th to CEO Adam Weiss and actress Barret Swatek for $45 million. The massive mansion property features 8 bedrooms and 8 baths. The sale was recorded as the second-highest price for a single-family residence in the history of the state.
Koloa real estate is among the group of new Hawaii homes for sale. Most of these houses are listed in the multi-million dollar range. Even plots of land in the upscale Koloa area are now going for more than 3 million. Anne Hogan Perry of Compass Real Estate commented on the state of the Hawaii real estate market last month saying, “To have this many sales over $20 million is huge.”
Oprah sells remodeled mansion property for $14 million on Orcas Island
Over on Orcas Island in Washington, the talk-show host and business mogul billionaire Oprah sold her famous homestead named Madroneagle. She purchased the property for $8.3 million with plans to remodel in 2018. The property is described as a gated island oasis and has all the amenities. It comes with an approx. 10,000 square foot mansion, guest houses, a workshop, and a greenhouse on half a mile of the beach. Madroneagle sold for $14 million to Lophodytes LLC.
Last month in Las Vegas, a luxury home sold for $25 million. This set the record for the most expensive home sold in all of southern Nevada. The record for the most expensive condo sold in Las Vegas also broke last month. The condo closed for a whopping $16.25 million back in the month of June. Records indicate Miami may be selling the largest number of luxury homes of any state. Miami real estate boasts a 100% increase in sales for the first quarter of the year over last year’s.
It seems Hawaii real estate isn’t the only area where the luxury market is seeing a crazy rise in home prices. The price increases come right along with an inventory shortage. Comparatively, if you’re looking for an area where you can still buy a more affordable luxury home, you might look somewhere like Santa Fe, New Mexico. In places like Santa Fe, you can get a lot more “bang for your buck”, so to speak. Sales in the luxury market don’t seem to be slowing down as we march through quarter 3. We expect the luxury home boom to continue as the economy recovers and new homes continue to be constructed.
