Million-Dollar Home Count Soars: Census Bureau Study reveals almost 100% jump from 2000 to 2003

ATLANTA, Georgia (November 21, 2005.) – One in every one hundred single family homes in the US is worth a million dollars – at least according to their owners. A new Census Bureau report estimates that in the three years from 2000 to 2003, the number of single family homes worth at least a million dollars virtually doubled, from 0.5% to 1.0%. The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) is based on homeowners’ estimates of the value of their homes.
The jump in the number of pricey homes doesn’t surprise Laurie Moore-Moore, Founder and President of The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, an organization which trains Realtors who work in the upper-tier market and awards the Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist designation. “Even if some homeowners are overestimating the value of their homes,” says Moore-Moore, “there’s no question but that the number of million dollar homes has soared. More important, the million dollar segment has continued to grow in the eighteen months since 2003.”
Cassandra Black, a Keller Williams, Atlanta Classic, Realtor in the Atlanta, GA area said the report prompted her to attend The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing training at the prestigious Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida, last week. "The training provided new insight about the upper tier market, helped me polish my skills, and provided valuable networking contacts with other agents across the country and abroad who specialize in luxury properties," said Black. "In addition, I discovered new and creative tools for promoting expensive homes and estates and new resources for finding buyer prospects." Ms. Black went on to say she's creating a new, luxury website, complete with Podcasting capability for her affluent prospects. "Clients will be able to download or listen to real estate listing descriptions in earnest on their computers anytime at their convenience. It's really old technology, but a new phenomena that's taking the real estate industry by storm, especially with so many affluent clients on the go," Black said.
Moore-Moore credits rampant appreciation (especially on the coasts), increasing wealth, the movement of money from stocks and bonds into real estate, and low mortgage rates coupled with adjustable rate and interest-only loans as helping to drive the rise in luxury properties and in luxe property sales.
“Since 2000, real estate has been the energizer for the economy and the luxury market has been one of the hottest real estate segments. The affluent are buying and selling in record numbers as property values continue to soar,” she says. “From 1999 to 2004, million dollar home sales increased almost 500 %. Real estate agents who understand this market niche and are prepared to meet the high service expectations of the wealthy are prospering.