Luxury homes sell fast. Starter homes sit there. Researchers discovered this by looking around.
The K-shaped recovery finally shows up somewhere you can photograph. Rich guys buy houses with wine cellars. Poor guys refresh Zillow and watch the same split-level get marked down for the fourth time. Inventory grows. Prices drop. Sales still fall. Turns out you need money to buy things.
This required research. Someone got paid to confirm that wealthy people face fewer obstacles purchasing assets than broke people. Groundbreaking stuff. The methodology probably involved counting.
Starter-home buyers struggle despite more inventory and price cuts. They see the discount. They appreciate the gesture. They still can't afford the house because their wages haven't moved since 2019 and their student loans just unpaused and their car payment is somehow $680 a month for a used Nissan. But the market's giving them deals. Very generous.
Meanwhile luxury buyers face no such problems. They liquidated some tech shares. They borrowed against their portfolio. They asked their accountant which entity should take title for tax purposes. Then they closed in eleven days, all cash, no inspection. The American dream works exactly as designed.
Some analyst will call this a two-tiered market. Some economist will blame interest rates. Some realtor will post on LinkedIn about how now's actually the perfect time to buy because inventory's up. None of them will mention that half the country got richer during the pandemic while the other half learned what forbearance means.
The K-shaped economy needed a visual aid. Now it has one. Rich people buy penthouses while poor people qualify for sympathy and a CNBC segment about how avocado toast ruined their downpayment fund.
Check back in six months when they discover rich people also buy nicer cars.
Photo by Danist Soh on Unsplash
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