Luxury home prices in Las Vegas are rising faster than anywhere else in the country except Tampa and Miami, Florida according to a new report.
Luxury prices rose most in Tampa (15.6 percent), Miami (14.2 percent) and Las Vegas (13.7 percent), according to a new report from Redfin, the real estate brokerage powered by Rocket.
The median U.S. luxury home sale price rose 4.7 percent year over year to $1.37 million during the three months ending May 31—more than triple the 1.5 percent gain in non-luxury sale prices, according to the report.
Luxury home prices are increasing largely because demand is on the rise. Pending sales of luxury homes in the U.S. rose 5.2 percent year over year — the largest gain since December 2024. That’s compared with a 3.6 percent gain in non-luxury pending sales, which is a deceleration from the month before.
Matt Hennessy, a local mortgage advisor, said with the rise in luxury sales means a rise in all cash purchases. He said right now in the luxury market approximately a quarter of the transactions are cash.
“It really all depends on the advice a client receives combined with their appetite to tie up their funds in real estate that is paid off,” he added as a caveat. “While every case is unique to the individual, most financial advisors will encourage their clients to think carefully before paying for a home in cash. There is an opportunity cost when paying for a home in cash that is perhaps most simplified by taking into account: could those funds be used in a better way instead of tied up into a real estate transaction.
Redfin’s report said luxury sales continue to defy the residential real estate slowdown, which is now entering its second year, because high-end homebuyers are less sensitive to the affordability pressures and financial instability facing most Americans today.
“Overall homebuying demand has been fairly slow because mortgage rates and home prices remain stubbornly high, pricing many regular house hunters out of the market,” reads the report. “Additionally, the economic uncertainty stemming from the back-and-forth on the Iran war, inflation, and the possibility of the (Federal Reserve) hiking interest rates is making some prospective buyers think twice about making a huge purchase. Ultra-wealthy Americans, by contrast, have more money to pay high housing costs, and they have the freedom to make big purchases even in uncertain times.
Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.
