Over the past 12 months, many well-off Americans have been getting wealthier. The United States added more than a million new millionaires over the past year as stock prices rose, according to the Global Wealth Report published last month by Credit Suisse.

That has helped fuel increases in many second-home markets across the country. Hawaii and Colorado may be the two luxury markets that saw the largest upticks in 2017, according to data from realtor.com®.

Top 5 Luxury Markets

 

The following markets saw the biggest increases in luxury home prices in 2017, according to realtor.com®:

1. Maui: Nearly 33%
2. Eagle County, Colo.: 31.5%
3. Brooklyn, N.Y.: 30%
4. Kauai, Hawaii: 25%
5. Hawaii’s Big Island: 24.8%

Indeed, Maui, Hawaii, and Eagle County, Colo., were the two markets that posted the nation’s fastest luxury price growth. The two locales even trumped traditional luxury hubs like New York and San Francisco. (Luxury sales are defined as the top 5 percent of sales in a given metro area.)

Luxury home prices in Maui rose almost 33 percent, reaching an average of $2.49 million in 2017 compared to the year prior, according to realtor.com®. Other Hawaiian islands also ranked within the top 10. Kauai ranked number four in the nation, posting a 25 percent increase in average luxury prices in 2017. Hawaii’s Big Island also ranked number five with a 24.8 percent price increase last year.

Eagle County, Colo., which is home to ski resorts like Vail and Beaver Creek, ranked number two on the list. Average luxury prices jumped there by 31.5 percent in 2017 to $2.89 million. “More than anything, people look at property here as a blue chip asset in a real estate portfolio,” Matthew Blake, a Vail-based broker for LIV Sotheby’s International Realty, told Mansion Global.

Source: “Hawaii, Colorado See Biggest Luxury Price Surges of 2017,” Mansion Global (Dec. 26, 2017)