Posted on 01/29/2016 3:54:57 AM PST by SkyPilot
Mansion prices show no signs of slowing in rich enclaves such as the Hamptons, Beverly Hills and Aspen, suggesting that the global market panic has yet to spread to top trophy homes.
According to sales data from Douglas Elliman, the median sales price in Beverly Hills for a single family home jumped 54 percent in the fourth quarter over the same period last year, to $5.5 million. In Aspen, the median single-family home price increased 35 percent to $6.7 million and 2015 was the market's best year ever for sales.
In the Hamptons, a record number of homes sold for more than $5 million and more than $10 million in the fourth quarter.
Granted, the figures only cover the fourth quarter, before this year's rout in financial markets. And the first quarter numbers could show a decline. But the numbers suggest that at least the end of last year - when jitters about China and global growth were already starting to rattle markets - the rich still saw real estate as a strong investment.
And while the most expensive homes in broader markets may be slowing, sales in the marquee "ego-towns" like Beverly Hills and Aspen keep growing.
"There's a general perception that the luxury market across the U.S. is weaker than the middle or lower end," said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, the appraisal firm. "But in the most highly regarded areas, like Beverly Hills, the market is strong."
In Aspen, the average sales price increased 42 percent to $7.9 million. And the price per square foot hit $1,357 - huge for a mountain resort.
In the Hamptons, the average sales price set an all-time record of $2.39 million.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
It may be that many Ãœber rich know something of what is coming - collapse of the markets, collapse of currencies. They may be putting their money into real estate as somthing tangible, other than bonds, stocks, and paper.
It is also true that during the Obama Depression of the last 7 years, the middle class has been under assault and is shrinking rapidly, while many of the hyper rich have become much more wealthy due to bailouts, QE1, QE2, ZIRP, and other factors.
What surface ships are to submarines, these homes are to the hordes when the SHTF.
For the super rich people in the world, America is one of economic safe havens. They all have a contingency plan to bail out of their country in case the economy of their country collapses. They and their wealth would escape to countries like U.S. For example, wealthy Chinese will keep coming in, driving up the price of prime real estate, and this will continue for some time.
You'll find the same fundamentals at work with rare art and other collectibles.
Yep. And these clowns actually believe their private security will stay loyal to their paper money once the sh** hits.
Their hired guns will be the first to shoot their spoiled a**es and take over the place
Excellent observation.
All these super rich types who buy homes in Aspen like to think of themselves as Environmentalists, but they end up taking a pristine, natural area and putting a massive, 20,000 or 30,000 square foot house in the middle of it. So they get to look outside and see nature and think that they are being good Environmentalists even though they just destroyed a natural area for their own vanity and comfort.
Absolutely.
It reminds me of a line in the movie "The Aviator" when Katherine Hepburn's Communist, atheistic, self-absorbed, rude mother tells the Howard Hughes character "We don't care about money here Mr. Hughes" and he responds "Well that's because you have it."
The Aviator (2/6) Movie CLIP - Dinner with the Hepburns (2004) HD
where will those poor rich people live?
we should have a housing program for them.
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