JOHN L. SCOTT LUXURY SPECIALISTS SCHOLARS OF THE MARKET

Curious about luxury trends in your neighborhood? See what some of our real estate specialists had to say about the luxury market in their area.

The luxury market has been steady, but not as much inventory is on the market. I have been working to find off-market homes to show buyers. Sellers need more time to get their homes ready to list or will sell off-market if they are not rushed to find a new home. The market is still a sellers’ market going into the summer. This is caused by low inventory in many neighborhoods. If a home is clean, updated, and has professional landscaping, it sells fast because buyers don’t have the time to remodel and would pay more for a home that is move-in-ready. The high-end market has not been affected by high-interest rates because most are cash buyers that are moving funds around, borrowing from other accounts, or buying their new home and then moving and listing their current home.

Homes in the luxury market don’t seem to be affected much by interest rates. The majority of the buyers in this market are not first-time homeowners and know that they can refinance once the rates come down.

Lake Oswego had two six-million-plus homes go into contract last week. Neither were underpriced, and both were in good condition and off-market. Buyers are still paying a premium at the high end for the opportunity to buy a home before it comes to market. Condition in the ultra-high end is more important than price right now.

Weiss

The luxury market for Q2 can best be described as house specific with some homes fetching multiple offers and premium pricing while others sit on the market for some time. Overall, between $2-3M we still have a shortage of listings with only 1.6 months of inventory at the end of Q2. At $3M+ there is a healthy selection of homes for buyers with inventory sitting at 5.4 months. Luxury lifestyle properties continue to be an opportunity as people will make a move for that “SPECIAL” lifestyle home. Challenges for the luxury market continue to be a shortage of inventory in the entry level luxury segment as well as economic headwinds such as volatility in the stock/ bond markets, rising rates for those financing a portion of their purchase, and continued uncertainty. I don’t believe rates are having a large impact on the luxury market; however, it does make the cost to borrow more expensive which takes some demand out of the market. We still have a nice percentage of CASH transactions in the market.