The National Association of Realtors (NAR) in their last Existing Home Sales Report revealed that sales of homes over $1 million dollars in the country increased 44.1% over the same period last year. One of the reasons for this increase is that financing in the jumbo mortgage market is becoming more readily available.
In an article last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that sales of upper-end homes are increasing by a larger percentage than the rest of the housing market. They came to this conclusion by looking at mortgages in this sector. Here is the breakdown:
- Home sales using a jumbo mortgage* had year-over-year growth of 7.9% through September, compared with 2.7% for non-jumbo sales
- Homes sold in major metro areas with a loan of $1 million or more were up almost 28% through September compared with the same period last year. Similar sales with loans of less than $1 million rose 8.5%.
The luxury market is again emerging. It may be time to buy the home you have always dreamt about.
*Defined as $417,000 and up in most places ($625,500 and up in high-cost areas).
