Alpharetta Luxury Home Luxury homes were hit hard in the downturn as values dropped and money got tight. But what really hurt sales of expensive homes in North Fulton was wealthy buyers sitting on their wallets waiting until they felt that the time was right to buy. What we have seen in 2011 was a clear indication that those exclusive buyers felt things were not going to get worse.

For the purposes of this discussion, I’m using any home sale transaction with a sales price of $1M or higher. Now, that may include a few properties that have homes on large tracts where the structure itself might not be considered a luxury home but the transaction sales price was in the range. Here are the stats:

North Fulton Luxury Homes

Units sold in North Fulton were up 34% over 2010 while the number of days on market (DOM) were down 11%. When looking at the average sales price to original list price (SP/OLP) it doesn’t appear that luxury homes are selling near what they are listed at. Take note at the other numbers below.

A few data points that are not in the chart above, in 2011:

 

  • 25% of luxury homes sold in 30 days or less
  • 20% of luxury homes sold for a least 90% of asking price
  • 31% of luxury homes were purchased with cash

I think that last one bears repeating; 31% of luxury home sales last year were CASH purchases. Savvy buyers and/or investors have put their money where their mouth is and have said now is the right time to buy into this market.