Homes in the “luxury” price category continue to do well throughout the Mid-Atlantic, as buyers in the upper reaches of the real-estate marketplace are less impacted by swings in interest rates.
In fact, many are willing to plunk down cash for homes they specifically want.
Bright MLS, the region’s multiple-listing service, is out with a new 10-page report looking at the state of the luxury market in its coverage area – which includes the District of Columbia and Delaware and portions of Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
“Luxury” for the purposes of the Bright MLS report is location-specific. In the Washington metro area, it is defined as any property worth more than $1.455 million (highest in any area of the Mid-Atlantic). Coastal Delmarva is second at $1.025 million.
Other thresholds include $920,000 for north-central Virginia, $801,000 for the Baltimore metro area, $800,00 for the Philadelphia metro area, $704,990 for southern Maryland, $599,900 for the West Virginia panhandle and surrounding areas of Maryland, and $537,000 for central Pennsylvania.
In total, there were 2,648 sales in the first quarter that surpassed the sales-price threshold in each case. That’s up 12 percent from a year before, even as the overall market was down 5 percent year-over-year.
About 35 percent of these properties changed hands for above listing price, slightly lower than the overall average of 40 percent, but the rate of all-cash sales (30.1%) was well above the overall market, according to the report.
Among individual ZIP codes, the most luxury sales for the quarter were recorded in 20169 (Haymarket) at 39, followed by 22101 (McLean) at 37 and 20817 (Bethesda) at 34.
