Luxury home sales reached record-breaking prices in 2024 despite overall home sales dropping to the lowest volume in almost 30 years. Experts say this points to confidence that home prices will continue to rise. Some notable sales include Jeff Bezos’s purchase of a $90 million mansion in Florida and Ellen DeGeneres’s repurchase of her $32 million home in Santa Barbara.
Sales Drop Overall as Luxury Homes Skyrocket
Salon says the US is predicted to close out 2024 with 4 million home sales. This will be the lowest volume of sales in almost 30 years. The overall sales volume dropped to 12.9%. In contrast, luxury home sales, which include properties listed at $1 million or more, climbed up to 5.2% in the first half of 2024.
Amid a thriving luxury home market, 2024 saw some of the most expensive home sales ever. In one example, an undisclosed buyer purchased a two-story penthouse in Central Park Tower, the tallest residential building in the world, for $115 million.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos played his role in these high-end deals, purchasing a $90 million mansion in Indian Creek in Miami-Dade County. This property has the moniker of the “Billionaire Bunker.” This property has changed hands between notable names such as Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
Ellen DeGeneres and mining tycoon Robert Friedland engaged in a mutual home swap. Friedland’s company acquired the mansion owned by DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, for $96 million in August. In exchange, the couple paid Friedland $43 million to repurchase the Santa Barbara home they had sold earlier in the year.
Luxury Home Availability and Prices by Region
In July 2024, Mortgage Point released a report showing that luxury home prices were rising more than twice as fast as non-luxury homes. These soaring prices defy the fact that the inventory of luxury home space has risen 9.7% year-to-year, outpacing the 3.9% growth of non-luxury homes.
In a regional breakdown of median sales prices of luxury homes, Mortgage Point found that the highest increase was in Providence, Rhode Island, with a 16.5% increase to $1.395 million.
Other notable locations include San Jose, California, which increased 16.4% to $4.83 million, and Nassau County, New York, which increased 14.3% to $2.572 million.
The locations that saw the highest growth in active listings for luxury homes include Nashville, Tennessee, with a 20.4% increase; Tampa, Florida, with a 29.6% increase; and Seattle, Washington, with a 13.9% increase.
Experts Speak on the Market Sentiment
As reported by CNBC, many real estate experts and brokers blame the divergence of interest rates and supply. In mid-2024, mortgage rates broke above 7% for a 30-year loan, a price out of reach for most homebuyers.
However, the affluent can still take advantage of home deals by paying out with cash. This movement has freed up upper-end listings, creating more inventory and increasing sales.
David Palmer, a Redfin agent who operates in Seattle, where the median price of a luxury home hit a record high of $1.225 million in 2025, commented on what these purchases indicate for market sentiment among the wealthy.
“People with the means to buy high-end homes are jumping in now because they feel confident prices will continue to rise,” states Palmer. “They’re ready to buy with more optimism and less apprehension.”
Since mid-2024, the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates three times, with two projected rate cuts for 2025, per NBC News. These lowered rates may prompt further movement in the broader housing market.
However, as luxury homes appear indifferent to running mortgage rates, soaring prices and sales of luxury homes may continue their record-breaking projection.
