Luxury Apartments Still Hot Despite A Cool Housing Market

(The housing market across the country has undoubtedly seen better days, since the slowdown is seen in almost every property sector. )

Both the sales of newly built homes and previously owned homes are down, and price is on the decline as well.

But in the big scheme of the housing market, there is one type of property that is still keeping its head way above water; in fact sales have never been better.

Luxury apartments are one type of property that is still doing well despite the slowdown that is occurring pretty much across the entire country.

These dwellings, selling from about $5 million to $20 million are the one type of property that is still fairing well despite the slowdown.

A November 14, 2006 article by Robin Goldwyn Blumenthal of The Wall Street Journal, "No slowdown in sales for luxury apartments," takes a look into these very expensive, yet very popular sky-high apartments.

"Empty-nest boomers are moving in from the suburbs in droves. Hedge-fund jockeys with city digs are on the prowl for still bigger and better ones. Newly minted magnates from overseas are snapping up second and third homes in U.S. metropolises, from Miami to San Francisco."

"The result of all this: changing skylines, firmly rising prices and, for the well-funded buyer, a bewildering array of amenities. Would you care for a four-foot deep swimming pool in your apartment? How about a 'mature pine forest' on the terrace? For the bookish apartment dweller, Manhattan's new 55 Wall Street comes with its own 20,000-volume private library."

Every amenity a buyer can think of is included in these ultra-luxurious units, and people are snapping them up in record numbers. It seems as if anyone with money wants to get in on this exciting new trend.

Not only is the multi-million dollar apartment market doing well, but sales of other homes in this price range are also still up during this slow period for other sales. Price of these types of properties is constantly on the rise, especially in areas where they are extremely popular like New York.

"Is it all getting out of hand? The luxury-apartment market may have become a tad -- dare we say it -- frothy. Brokers, developers and other pros suggest that price gains could start moderating around the country, as the supply of new buildings catches up with demand. By and large, however, the market is showing striking resilience and could continue to post healthy gains. It certainly doesn't look headed for the double-digit price declines some are expecting for the mainstream market in parts of the two coasts."

Most people agree that the reason why this market is doing so well right now is because there are a lot less extremely luxurious homes and a lot more people who have come into great amounts of wealth; simple laws of supply and demand.

"In fact, there are now some 35,000 people in North America whose net worth, excluding their primary residences, exceeds $30 million, according to a study by consultant Capgemini and Merrill Lynch."

Although these types of apartments may be a dream to most, at least they are one sector of our housing market that is still doing just fine.

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