Luxury home sales in America’s top markets boomed in the first quarter.
Sales showed explosive year-over-year growth, according to a global report by Knight Frank on home sales $10 million or more. New York ranked second among global luxury markets, Palm Beach third, and Miami fourth. Dubai clinched first place, with 111 sales and $1.9 billion in dollar volume.
New York, Palm Beach and Miami claimed more than $4 billion in dollar volume. The Magic City claimed the biggest growth, with dollar volume surging 89.7 percent.
New York led as the top-performing U.S. market, with 75 sales and $1.4 billion in dollar volume. That’s up from 59 deals and $1.2 billion in dollar volume in the first quarter of 2024, which equates to a 27.1 percent increase in sales and a 16.5 percent increase in dollar volume, year-over-year.
The Big Apple’s luxury market appears to be sustaining its momentum. Manhattan saw 183 contracts signed for homes asking $4 million or more in the month of May, marking one of the best months for the city’s luxury market in two decades.
Palm Beach followed closely behind with 74 sales and $1.4 billion in dollar volume, up from 57 sales and $1.1 billion in dollar volume the year prior. That worked out to a 29.8 percent increase in sales and a 19.5 percent hike in dollar volume.
Donald Trump’s presidential win kickstarted the island’s busy season in November. Pending contracts spiked in the early weeks after the election, and big deals have followed.
In March, billionaire Red Ventures co-founder Ric Elias sold his oceanfront mansion for $73 million in an off-market sale. But the biggest sale of the season closed secretly in February. Billionaire beauty heir William Lauder sold 2.3 oceanfront acres for north of $160 million, with the likely buyer being Microsoft Word creator Charles Simonyi, sources tell The Real Deal.
In Miami, where dollar volume surged 89.7 percent, year-over-year, 58 homes sold for a total of $1.3 billion. That’s up from 43 sales and $683 million in dollar volume in the first quarter of 2024.
That data doesn’t include the Miami area’s most recent trophy property sale. Earlier this month, the waterfront lot next to Jeff Bezos’ Indian Creek Village estate sold for $105 million, with the possibility it was Bezos who bought out his neighbor.