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Published: Jul 06, 2023 4 min read
Houses along the canal in Venice, Los Angeles, California
Venice, Los Angeles, California
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Americans looking to buy a home right now have the cards stacked against them, what with limited supply, elevated mortgage rates and surging prices over the past few years.

As difficult as the circumstances may be for prospective homebuyers, data shows that there’s no shortage of high-end inventory for those with money to burn. An analysis of 90 U.S. cities by online real estate marketplace Point2 revealed that in 10 cities, at least half of current homes on the market are listed for $1 million or higher.

Point2 looked at for-sale inventory as of July 3 in large, mid-sized and small cities, ranking them by local shares of high-end homes.

Where $1 million home listings are most common

California dominates the luxury housing market, boasting six of the 10 cities where more than 50% of the listings are $1 million and up. That’s not surprising when you consider that the median home prices in most of these metros are already above $1 million.

Smaller markets with more reasonable median home prices, like Bozeman, Montana, also place in the top 10 for cities where most of the homes for sale fall into the luxury category.

These are the cities with the largest percentage of homes for sale for at least $1 million:

  1. East Honolulu, Hawaii (71% of home listings above $1 million)
    Median home price: $1,300,000
  2. Glendale, California (66%)
    Median home price: $963,000
  3. Los Angeles, California (64%)
    Median home price: $926,000
  4. Huntington Beach, California (63%)
    Median home price: $1,100,000
  5. Bozeman, Montana (62%)
    Median home price: $662,000
  6. San Francisco, California (62%)
    Median home price: $1,300,000
  7. San Jose, California (61%)
    Median home price: $1,242,000
  8. San Diego, California (59%)
    Median home price: $910,000
  9. North Bethesda, Maryland (55%)
    Median home price: $580,000
  10. Boston, Massachusetts (53%)
    Median home price: $799,000

Why the luxury home market is still strong

Those looking to purchase a home this year have good reason to put off their plans. Even though home prices are finally falling, high mortgage rates and inflation have forced many would-be homebuyers to wait to make a purchase.

Despite a challenging market overall, demand for luxury housing has stayed strong. For affluent buyers who can afford to avoid taking out a mortgage by paying in cash, current mortgage rates aren’t a deterrent. In fact, analysis shows that all-cash sales are up this year, particularly for luxury home purchases, propping up the high-end housing market.

According to Sotheby’s, the wealthy have become wealthier in recent years. With more money to spend, affluent homebuyers are pretty much exempt from the problems plaguing the average buyer lately.

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