Coldwell Banker Previews International Luxury Market Report Reveals Florida & Hot Tech Cities With Emerging High-End Markets Experienced Major Sales Growth In 2015

Report on Top 20 Luxury Real Estate Markets Shows Florida, Atlanta, Seattle & Austin Surge while Bay Area Tech Communities Leveled Off Due to Lack of Inventory

ales of $1 million-plus homes in 2015 surged 32 percent year-over-year in Austin, which is experiencing a boom in tech and entertainment as the home of the  Festival; 31 percent in Fort Lauderdale, which benefits directly from its proximity to the perennial luxury hub of Miami; and 30 percent in Seattle, which has achieved gold status as a tech mecca. These increases — some of the largest of any cities in the nation — earn them standout status as entry-level luxury real estate markets as revealed by the new Luxury Market Report released today by the Coldwell Banker Previews International® marketing program.

$5 Million+ Category  In the $5 million-plus category of home sales, California cities dominated the Top 10 list, earning five of the top spots, withSouthern California leading with six of the top 10 spots and four of the top five. The exclusive Southern California beachside destination of La Jolla was a clear frontrunner, doubling its sales in this range from 2014 to 2015. Meanwhile, Florida claimed five of the top spots.

$10 Million+ Category  Newport Coast, one of the newest California coastal communities to join the $10 million-plus top 20, experienced a massive 175 percent increase in luxury sales more than $10 million. Florida added two newcomers to the list, Wellington and Lake Worth. Outside of New York, Beverly Hills continues to hold the top position for sales more than$10 million. Combining all cities that made the list in Los Angeles County, there were 96 unit sales more than $10 million, an increase of 17 percent in 2015. A stand out for luxury home sellers was the star-studded Pacific Palisades, Calif., commanding a 95 percent ratio of list to sales price.

Overall Luxury Market Summary for 2015 Across all price categories, Florida elevated its coveted position as a top destination for the real estate elite, recording double-digit growth in Miami, Naples and Palm Beach and adding newcomers Lake Worth and Wellington, which placed in the Top 20 list for $10 million sales for the first time. 

Tech epicenters in the Bay area posted only modest gains in the number of closed sales as demand outstripped supply in 2015. San Francisco closed 57 percent more units than the previous year at $10 million-plus (11 units in 2015 vs. seven units in 2014) but declined 13 percent in sales of units priced $1 to $5 million, posting a mere 3 percent gain in sales of $5 to $10 million. "Some cities in the Bay area have a 42-day supply of inventory that has left many affluent buyers empty-handed and pushed down potential sales gains," says Mike James, president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, San Francisco Peninsula and North Bay areas.

The ski markets presented a mixed picture: Aspen made the top six list of luxury home sales both in the $5 million-plus and $10 million-plus categories. Vail recorded a strong showing, but another perennially popular ski destination, Park City, ranked fifth in the nation in both active listings more than $1 million and more than $5 million, yet it did not make the top 20 in either sales category. 

Overall, more than 50 percent of the Top 20 cities for luxury home sales across all price categories experienced an increase in activity and more than 40 percent met or exceeded the 90 percent mark of list to sales price. All Top 20 cities with the largest increases in sales of homes more than $1 Million revealed list-to-sales-price ratios of 90 percent or higher, demonstrating robust demand and that sellers are commanding close to asking price in key luxury markets nationwide.

The full Coldwell Banker Previews International list of the Top 20 Best Performing U.S. Cities in Luxury Real Estate by price points of $1 million-plus, $5 million-plus and $10 million-plus, and the high-net-worth consumer survey results can be viewed here: http://www.previewsinsideout.com/2016/04/luxury-market-report-spring-2016

Luxury Market Report MethodologyAll market data has been gathered from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) databases known or believed to be the primary real estate broker cooperative resources for each market referenced in the report. All closed sales activity reported is for the annual period January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015. Closed sales reported to the MLSs significantly later than this analysis period will not be included. All active status listing records were downloaded and processed to the same standards, and on various dates, during the months of January and February, 2016. Active status listings added to the MLSs significantly later than download dates will not be included. Property-specific listing and sales records were standardized to USPS address city and ZIP Code, inaccurate list and sale prices were corrected when necessary, and all duplicate records were manually excluded. Average list price and average sales price calculated based on original list price where available. As a result, statistics available via the source data providers may not correlate to this analysis. While all results are believed to be highly accurate, MLS systems do not report all real estate activity in their primary marketplace, and there may have been property transfers not included in this analysis. Copyright © 2016, Real Data Strategies, Inc. All rights reserved. Licensed for the exclusive use of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

As Trends Shift, Urban Home Values Outpace Those in the Suburbs

City living is hot, and its popularity has been boosting home values in urban areas over the past several years.

- The average urban home is now worth two percent more than the average suburban home--a recent phenomenon. In 2013, the average urban home was worth 1.2 percent less than the average home in the suburbs.

- The trend is particularly prevalent in top-tier cities with young populations, such as Boston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

- The new data reflects shifting preferences and changing demographics within cities, and the higher cost of building in big cities.

Urban home values are outpacing the value of homes in the suburbs in most top-tier metros, as city life gains popularity and high-end condos fill the sky in Boston, Washington, D.C., Seattle, and other cities with fast-changing downtowns.

Homes in the suburbs – a longstanding symbol of the American Dream – have typically been worth more, on average, than homes in urban areas. That's still true in much of the country. Suburban homes in Nashville, Tenn., Cincinnati, Ohio, and Richmond, Virginiahave a higher price tag than the average home in the city.

But in Boston, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, the meani value of urban homes has recently surpassed the mean value of homes in suburban areas. And urban homes are gaining ground in Denver, Phoenix, and Chicago.

The shift reflects demographic trends of millennials delaying family life and choosing condos, and shifting preferences, as people seek walkable neighborhoods with urban amenities.

It has vast implications for low-income people who have traditionally lived in cities to be near services and employment. Zillow recently found that, in San Francisco and Seattle, high-income people are making shorter commutes to downtown, while low-income people are traveling much further to get to work in the urban coreii.

Zillow based its analysis of urban and suburban home values on a surveyiii of how people define their own neighborhoods – as either urban, rural, or suburban – and then used characteristics of those places to extrapolate the results and define ZIP codes all over the country. By looking at home values within those areas, Zillow could see how home values have fared in each type of place over the years.

"This trend, in part, reflects home buyers' changing preferences, as they seek amenity-rich, dense and walkable areas that are often closer to their workplace," said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. "In the future, this lifestyle trend will change some suburbs as we know them, and they'll start to feel more urban as buyers move further from city centers in search of affordable housing in communities that still feel urban."

Nationally, suburban home values grew 5.9 percent in 2015, while urban homes gained 7.5 percent in value. In 1997, urban home values grew at 3.8 percent -- slower than suburban values, which grew 4.1 percent that year.

On a per-square-foot basis, home values for urban areas are way up, indicating that people are willing to pay more for less space to live in the city. In Washington, D.C., for example, urban homes in 1996 cost 6 percent more per square foot than suburban homes. Today, they cost 41 percent more per square foot.

Metropolitan Area	2015 Urban ZHVI	Urban 1-year ZHVI Change 2014-2015	Urban 5-year ZHVI Change 2010-2015	2015 Suburban ZHVI	Suburban 1-year ZHVI Change 2014-2015	Suburban 5-year ZHVI Change 2010-2015
United States	$269,036	7.5%	28.4%	$263,987	5.9%	21.1%
Los Angeles, CA	$604,006	7.6%	42.1%	$706,925	7.2%	33.9%
Chicago, IL	$198,982	2.0%	2.3%	$231,008	1.1%	5.1%
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX	$192,404	13.4%	38.8%	$210,338	13.9%	38.9%
Philadelphia, PA	$134,449	1.1%	3.4%	$259,863	1.1%	1.3%
Washington, DC	$425,611	2.9%	23.8%	$409,194	0.7%	14.4%
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL	$240,015	7.8%	53.1%	$262,079	8.6%	50.2%
Atlanta, GA	$205,353	7.4%	25.6%	$204,687	6.5%	23.2%
Boston, MA	$440,869	9.6%	37.1%	$426,356	6.2%	20.5%
San Francisco, CA	$927,890	14.0%	65.3%	$910,306	13.7%	58.7%
Detroit, MI	$70,781	1.1%	18.7%	$176,030	4.6%	45.0%
Riverside, CA	$292,666	5.9%	45.2%	$323,927	5.0%	43.2%
Phoenix, AZ	$218,595	8.7%	64.6%	$255,070	6.6%	50.8%
Seattle, WA	$437,813	11.4%	36.9%	$410,991	9.4%	33.3%
Minneapolis-St Paul, MN	$206,921	3.6%	20.5%	$244,019	3.3%	18.6%
San Diego, CA	$468,597	6.5%	41.2%	$630,877	6.6%	34.2%
Tampa, FL	$160,144	9.4%	35.8%	$180,963	7.9%	32.9%
Baltimore, MD	$176,092	1.1%	3.9%	$297,691	0.7%	2.7%
Denver, CO	$330,932	14.4%	54.5%	$338,801	14.1%	49.1%
Pittsburgh, PA	$109,152	3.8%	21.6%	$148,575	2.7%	15.8%
Portland, OR	$340,413	12.5%	36.4%	$332,050	11.3%	35.3%
Charlotte, NC	$170,506	6.4%	18.0%	$186,922	6.0%	18.1%
Sacramento, CA	$317,778	8.2%	39.4%	$360,400	7.5%	42.5%
Orlando, FL	$167,585	6.8%	40.9%	$201,576	6.0%	34.6%
Cincinnati, OH	$114,760	4.2%	8.5%	$159,789	3.4%	9.8%
Cleveland, OH	$76,986	0.4%	-6.6%	$150,132	2.7%	4.9%
Las Vegas, NV	$166,080	9.3%	62.7%	$232,452	7.5%	51.3%
Columbus, OH	$102,837	5.0%	8.2%	$171,031	7.0%	17.8%
San Jose, CA	$1,119,156	13.2%	73.7%	$1,179,781	14.6%	70.3%
Virginia Beach, VA	$155,999	1.4%	-6.6%	$250,433	3.3%	2.6%
Nashville, TN	$189,877	9.0%	26.8%	$234,483	9.7%	29.7%
Jacksonville, FL	$133,336	5.8%	13.3%	$183,612	6.1%	17.4%
Oklahoma City, OK	$134,405	2.8%	15.1%	$132,318	2.4%	15.5%
Hartford, CT	$142,817	0.2%	-13.2%	$231,201	-1.3%	-5.4%
Richmond, VA	$159,902	5.2%	1.3%	$218,506	3.9%	8.5%