Realtor.com® August Luxury Housing Report: National Luxury Threshold Falls as Local Markets Diverge

Hilo-Kailua, Hawaii, posted the widest gap between the top 10% and top 1% of listings, while Los Angeles claimed the nation's highest entry point to luxury

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The national entry point to luxury housing fell to $1,200,005 in August, down 4.0% from July and a year ago, marking the 29th consecutive month of annual declines, according to the Realtor.com^® August Luxury Housing Report released today.

Price thresholds declined across every luxury tier, with the threshold for the top 5% of listings down 4.2% year over year and the top 1% down 4.6%. At the same time, the distance between where luxury begins and where ultraluxury starts varies sharply by market.

Luxury listings also moved faster than a year ago. Listings at the 90th percentile spent a median of 74 days on the market, four days fewer than last August, though seven days more than in July.

"Luxury is not defined by one national price point," said Anthony Smith, senior economist at Realtor.com^®. "The distance between the top 10% and the top 1% shows how each market is structured. Some have a broad, deep luxury tier, while others pair a more accessible high-end market with a small group of trophy properties."

National Luxury Overview — August 2026

While seasonal easing is typical at this point in the year, the monthly decline was steeper than usual. Higher tiers also declined, with the 95th-percentile threshold falling to $1,894,230 and the 99th-percentile threshold declining to $5,163,712.

Listings at the 95th percentile spent 82 days on the market, while those at the 99th percentile spent 98 days. The typical listing spent 60 days on the market, unchanged from August 2025.

"August shows a luxury market in recalibration, with mixed signals across measures," Smith said. "Listings are moving faster than a year ago, but price thresholds and the share of million-dollar listings are lower, while the market has slowed from midsummer. The data point to a market adjusting in several directions at once."

Los Angeles Claims the Highest Entry Point to Luxury

The Los Angeles metro claimed the highest entry point to luxury in August at $3,919,381, despite a 1.9% monthly decline. Kahului-Wailuku, Hawaii, followed at $3,908,500, while Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, Conn., fell to third at $3,881,000 after declining 6.0% for the month. Less than 1% separates the three markets.

Naples-Marco Island, Fla., and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif., were the only markets among the 10 most expensive to post monthly gains. Naples rose 1.1% to $3,736,279 and is up 9.4% from a year ago. San Jose rose 0.8% to $3.300,000 million, marking its second consecutive monthly gain.

The Bay Area's high-end market also continues to reflect wealth dynamics tied to the technology sector. A recent Realtor.com^® analysis suggests that AI equity liquidity is helping keep Bay Area luxury down payments elevated as technology workers convert equity into cash and direct it toward home purchases.

Top 10 Most Expensive Metropolitan Luxury Markets

Where Luxury Separates

Luxury markets vary in how far prices extend beyond the entry point. Nationally, the top 1% of listings starts at $5.16 million, or 4.3 times the $1.2 million luxury threshold. Hilo-Kailua has the widest gap at 6.2 times its local threshold, followed by Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach at 5.8 and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim and Port St. Lucie, Fla., at 5.6.

Miami also illustrates the depth of the market: nearly 41,000 listings put roughly 400 homes in its top 1%, while Los Angeles, Miami and New York have the nation's largest pools of $10 million-plus listings, with 634, 601 and 554, respectively.

Largest Gaps Between Entry and Ultraluxury 

*Markets with fewer than 5,000 total listings; all markets shown have at least 1,200 total listings.

Editor's note: The July Luxury Housing release referred to a 29-month streak. The correct count for July was 28 months; with August's decline, the streak now stands at 29 consecutive months.

Methodology

All data in this report is sourced from Realtor.com^® listing trends as of August 2026, reflecting active inventory of existing homes, including single-family residences, condos, townhomes, row homes and co-ops. Listings reflect only those provided by MLS platforms to Realtor.com^® via a listing feed. New-construction listings are excluded unless actively listed on participating MLSs.

Luxury segmentation is based on market-specific price percentiles, with the 90th percentile representing entry-level luxury, the 95th percentile marking high-end luxury and the 99th percentile indicating ultraluxury. All calculations are based on listing prices, not final sales prices.

Metropolitan and micropolitan areas are defined using the Office of Management and Budget's OMB-2023 delineations, with Claritas 2025 household estimates used for relative comparisons. Where appropriate, analysis was limited to metros or micros with a minimum threshold of active million-dollar listings on average over the past year.

Historical listing trend data extends to July 2016, but year-over-year comparisons in this report use August 2025 as the baseline.

Luxury by the Numbers

90th percentile = Entry-level luxury (top 10% of prices)

95th percentile = High-end luxury

99th percentile = Ultraluxury (often rare or custom properties)

About Realtor.com^®

For over 30 years, Realtor.com^® has connected buyers, sellers, and renters with trusted insights, professional guidance, and powerful tools to help them find their perfect home. Recognized as the No. 1 real estate site REALTOR^® agents recommend, Realtor.com^® delivers consumer connections and a robust suite of marketing tools to support business growth. Realtor.com^® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc.

Media contact: Janice McDill, [email protected]

SOURCE Realtor.com