Luxury Home Prices Are Falling, but These Pockets of Growth Are Defying the Slump

Luxury home prices are sinking in much of the country, but there are significant exceptions, where high-end home prices just keep rising.The national threshold for luxury homes—defined as the top 10% of listings—in October came in at $1,197,014, down 2.3% from one year ago, according to the latest Realtor.com® monthly luxury report.The downward trend held in the upper tiers of the luxury market, with the 95th percentile down 4.1% to a threshold of $1,873,040 and the 99th percentile down 6.2% to $5,125,874.However, in certain golden pockets, the luxury market is thriving. Of the 43 metros in the report's dataset, 12 posted a year-over-year increase of 1% or higher."Although the price point for entry luxury has had 31 consecutive months of annual decline at the national level, there are markets where prices are climbing and, in some cases, well above the year-ago levels," says the report's author, Realtor.com senior economist Anthony Smith.Of those 12 robust luxury markets, the South massively dominates, with five markets in Florida alone. Only two Northern metros—Atlantic City and Detroit—made the cut.Nor are these necessarily the most expensive markets in the U.S. While those price...