See view of luxury waterfront houses and boats with intracostal waterways near Jupiter Inlet in Florida in Palm Beach Count
Ryan Tishken | ISTOCK | Getty images
A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC’s Inside Wealth Newsletter along with Robert Frank, a weekly guide for a high-apene investor and consumer. Sign up To achieve future versions, directly on your inbox.
According to a new report by the brokerage coldwell banker, economic uncertainty is creating a partition in the luxury real estate market between ultra-rich buyers and only rich.
A survey of some 200 agents specialized in luxury property found that ultra-rich buyers, who have been defined as at least $ 30 million individuals, are still buying big tickets despite the fears of trade war and recession. They are also making adequate increase in all-cash offers. Meanwhile, rich but less rich buyers are more sensitive to interest rates and according to the report, are working more carefully.
More than half of the surveyed agents said that they had seen a slight or sufficient increase in cash procurement by customers in 2025. Only 3.9% reported a decrease in buyers in the first five months of 2025, while 45.4% stated that cash purchases kept stable, according to the report.
Jason Waugh, president of Coldwell Banker colleagues, told Inside Wealth that High interest rates There are a major factor behind the boom.
“Provides a buyer with cash control. It provides leverage, speed and safety,” he said. “But this is actually the cost of borrowing high borrowing that remains so high. Why do you absorb those costs if you have cash to close on a real estate purchase, right?”
Waugh, who had received his broker license about 32 years ago, said that real estate could be more attractive during the time of economic uncertainty. More than two-thirds of the surveyed agents reported that the rich customers were maintaining or raising their risk for real estate, while only 11.3% said the interest of the customers was reduced in favor of equity and other financial assets. The remaining 20.6% agents said that customers had planned due to the uncertainty of the economic or stock market.
“It has been a roller coaster, and the business is cyclic. I think at the end of the day, real estate is a hard property that can preserve money and a defense against inflation,” he said. “I think the data really confirms the legend that people see real estate as a great way to accumulate wealth even in a luxurious and unstable economic environment, which we have navigated in more than a decade.”
He said, while in the first five months of 2025, the sales of the luxury house rose overall, they took a hit. MayThe first full month after the April stock market dip. Citing the institute for luxury home marketing data, the report stated that the sales of luxury single-family house have declined by 4.7% year-on-year, while sales of attached assets have fallen to 21.1%.
According to the Watch, agents are watching more customers in 2025 lowering the list of list in 2025. According to the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, the middle luxury is currently $ 1.7 million and $ 1.25 million for luxury solo-family and luxury-based properties.
Waugh said that buyers at all price points are more intelligent than a few years ago. They are now asking for top-end equipment such as smart fridge, spa-level features and indoor-outdoor living features, which range from a fireplace to an entire kitchen.
For the first time luxury buyers prefer especially, he said.
He said, “They can pull themselves, looking at the atmosphere of the current rate, so they are going to be very intelligent in terms of evaluation, where they live, steps into the facilities, property positions,” he said. “This is a completely new environment compared to a few years earlier this year.”
