Daily Real Estate News  |  October 4, 2007  |   Is the Luxury Market Starting to Feel the Pain?
Until recently America’s priciest neighborhoods have defied the 2-year-old slide in prices and surge in foreclosures in the broader property market, but some observers say things are changing.

"The luxury market tends to be a little isolated from the market swings. This time around it's a little different because the bottom half of the upper tier is softening a bit," says Laurie Moore-Moore, founder of the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, a trade organization for high-end property sales associates.

The bottom tier is comprised of homes that sell for $2 million or less, she says. "As the market softens I think we are seeing that segment of the market falling out."

Julia Ward, who has sold real estate in Greenwich, Conn., for more than two decades, agrees that the global credit crunch is causing the wealthy elite to be more cautious. "Buyers are doing a lot more due diligence and not pulling the trigger as quickly," says Ward.

Since the second week in August, “People are looking instead of buying,” she says.

Source: Reuters News (10/03/2007)