Learning Local Luxury

Much of an agent’s knowledge will come from just doing the job working with luxury properties, but they need to stay updated on the latest data to supplement that knowledge with information on the market. Sales of homes priced at $1 million or more have gone up in Chicago, according to the April 2016 Coldwell Banker Previews International report, which looks at data from the previous years for several metrics. In spring 2015, there were 1,149 sales of $1 million-plus homes in Chicago, a 12 percent increase year-over-year from the 1,026 sales reported previously; Chicago’s luxury sales volume trailed only New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose and San Diego. Those sales included the Park Tower penthouse, which went for $18.75 million. Chicago buyers are also paying 95 percent of the list to sale price, falling just short of the threshold Previews uses to indicate a hot market.

The jump in year-over-year sales was the seventh-highest in the nation, behind such hot spots as Austin, Fort Lauderdale, Seattle, Atlanta, San Diego and Dallas. Of the cities in the top 10, only Chicago and Seattle are located outside of the Sun Belt. Coldwell Banker Previews International’s April 2016 report showed 735 properties listed at $1 million or higher in Chicago, down slightly from the 740 reported at the same time last year.

According to the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing’s April housing report, the average cost of a luxury home in Chicago ranked 12th among the 31 cities ILHM examined.

While “prices are also hitting new highs in Chicago,” according to Previews, price cuts are becoming increasingly common among properties priced over $5 million, according to data from realtor.com. Emily Sachs Wong, a broker associate at @properties, says that when she needs to get creative to sell a luxury home, “I have some people who will allow me to price their home at or below market value, rather than pricing it higher only to negotiate down. This is a good strategy, as it creates the most demand, and often gets the seller the highest price. In this part of the country, that’s counterintuitive, but in other areas, like San Francisco, it gets the seller the highest price and I have found the same to be true here.”

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