The National Association of REALTORS released sales data for December of 2013 and it shows the housing market remained strong, especially for homes with sale prices above $500,000. The released stats show the percentage change from 2012 was 14% for $500-750K homes, 18% for $750-1M homes and 7% for homes that sold for more than a million dollars. The expectation is for the strength to continue. Nationwide, the are now only 1.86 million homes listed for sale in Multiple Listing Services and that is a 9% decline from a month earlier and is the smallest housing inventory in the United States in the past 11 months.
This bodes well for the entire housing market but with jumbo mortgage rates lower than conventional mortgage rates and with low inventories, it is why the strength in the luxury market is expected to continue. In Alexandria’s market, I also believe the $500,000 and up market is going to be strong in 2014. The very first lake home to go into escrow in 2014 was a Lake Ida home with a list price in the $500-600k range and I am also basing my opinion on the serious inquiries from buyers that I have received since the beginning of the year.
