So here we are, a new year, and hopefully, a better year for the luxury market. We saw about a 10% decrease in closed sales in 2007 for homes priced above $1 Million. Compared to lower price ranges, this was pretty good. Some saw up to 26% decrease in home sales.

It should also be no big surprise that luxury homes take longer to sell, and this January, the current supply of inventory will take roughly 18 months to clear out. Out of the 670 highend homes for sale in the Twin Cities, 177 of them are in the Lake Minnetonka area.

$1 Million -2 Million – The “cheap” homes have tons of competition, what with 116 of them in the Lake Minnetonka area trying to persuade a buyer to chose them over their neighbor across the lake. Nine lucky home sellers will be moving out soon since they were able to hook a buyer successfully this last month. Even with sub-zero temps!

$2 Million – $3 Million : 33 homes coming in strong at this mark and the types of architectural styles available are endless. Well, maybe not endless, but there are a lot of options to make any picky buyer happy. At least two homes from 2007 are about to become sold statistics in the next few days.

$3 Million – $5 Million : Nineteen homes take on the second highest listing category currently for sale, while only two from last year were able to sell.

$5 Million + : The premier homes in the price range are the cream of the crop. Some heavy hitters from 2007 have stepped aside to let some new big boys have their chance at finding that perfect luxury buyer. Only eight homes can boast this price range, and the highest priced home tops the scale at $53 Million.

If you would like to search the current luxury home inventory in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and the surrounding areas, view my price by price analysis at Fine Homes of Minneapolis.