Record-setting residential sale --$100 million!

Russian billionaire buys Silicon Valley home

Luxury housing market showing signs of recovery

(April 5, 2011) --  In a transaction which set a record for most expensive U.S. residential sale ever, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner (who heads Digital Sky Technologies) has reportedly paid $100 million for a 25,500-square-foot Los Altos Hills (CA) home which was not even listed for sale. This record-setting sale is just one indication that the wealthy have opened their wallets and are shopping for homes again

Nationally, the million dollar and above housing market rose 4% in February year-over-year as luxury buyers snapped up homes, often for all cash. The jump in luxury purchases is counter to the Real Estate resale trend in general.  In February, total residential sales dropped 2.8% as compared to February a year ago.  

“Evidence of this positive trend for luxury home sales is evident in La Quinta, too,” said Rob Zwemmer, a luxury Real Estate professional with Luxury Homes by Keller Williams.  The strong Canadian dollar,  low interest rates, and positive economic news are all helping to keep the market in swing.    

Why the rise in luxury sales?  According to Laurie Moore-Moore, Founder of The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, an organization which trains luxury agents internationally, “The number of wealthy households in the U.S. and world-wide is almost back to where it was before the downturn.  Add the fact that many high net worth individuals are reassessing their investments and rethinking how and where to invest.  High-end U.S. residential Real Estate is now attracting many of these dollars, Euros, and Rubles. This bodes well for the luxury home market in the short sale term.  Luxury may well be the real estate segment that leads the recovery.”