Will Luxury Real Estate Market Be Hardest Hit?

January 28th, 2009 By Ginger Wilcox

I was reading an article by Robert Frank (The Wealth Report) of the Wall Street Journal discussing Why Luxury Housing Could Be Hit Hardest.  Many people have said the market crisis hasn’t impacted the wealthy, but has absolutely impacted Marin County. 

While previous market swings (such as around the .com bust) have not made a huge impact on wealthy Marin County and the Marin real estate market, this one definitely has.  Marin has a large number of residents who work in financial services and they are losing their jobs.  The wealthy have lost huge percentages of their wealth in their portfolios.  While many of the wealthy may not lose their homes, they are definitely holding tight to what they do have.  The charts below show the dramatic difference in the lower end Marin real estate market vs. the upper end. The number of Marin homes sold under one million dollars is actually up.  The over a million stats?  Down 63.3%! 

Marin Real Estate Sales Stats for homes under $1,000,0000

Marin Real Estate Sales Stats for homes over $1,000,0000

Clearly the luxury real estate market in Marin County is hurting, and I anticipate this trend to continue in 2009.