While most of the buyer and home sale activity is happening sub-$250,000 price range, the upper end of the market has been strengthening also. Across the country, the high end buyer has come out of hiding.  What’s driving this trend?  “Cash buyers, low mortgage rates, and rising consumer confidence are among the biggest drivers pushing luxury housing in the U.S…” (Luxury Sales Continue to Bounce Back, Brokers Say, Wall Street Journal, 6/6/2013).

A few data points from the Phoenix Metro luxury market arena:

• Since the beginning of this year, Phoenix has seen nearly 500 (492 as of June 6th)  sales in the million plus range ($1,000,000+).
• For the 400 homes that sold between $1m and up to $2m In the Phoenix area since January 1st, the average size was 4823, and the average sale price was $1,347,000, or $313.85 per square foot.
• For these 400 properties with sale prices between $1 – $2 million,  173 were financed with cash, or about 43% .
• Since the beginning of the year, Phoenix area has seen about 92 $2M ($2,000,000)+ sales.
• Of these 92 $2m+ homes sales, 62 – or 67% of these purchases- were financed with cash.
• For these 92 Phoenix Metro homes that have sold since January 1st for at least $2,000,000, the average size was 7,437 square feet; the average sale price was $3,034,458, with a square foot price of $417.25.