Luxury home sales in the D.C. metropolitan area are performing better than the overall market right now. In January, more than 200 homes priced at over $1.5 million sold. Almost 5% of homes currently on the market are priced at $2.5 million or higher, according to Long & Foster Real Estate.
Since the 2024 election, 56 homes that have either sold or gone under contract in the D.C. region were priced at $4 million or more, according to listing service Bright MLS. For all of 2024, 87 homes priced at $5 million or more sold in the D.C. area, a 64% increase from 2023, RE/Max reported.
The new Trump administration gets credit for some of that luxury buying, with many well-heeled businesspeople and entrepreneurs joining the administration and moving here from other areas.
But the D.C. region has also seen an increase in wealthy buyers in general in recent years. Some of that has been coming from the region’s growing technology industry.
“With the tech boom, the D.C. area has seen significant growth in the tech sector. This influx of tech executives, entrepreneurs and high-net worth individuals has driven up demand for luxury housing,” said Sherry Rahnama, broker-owner of RE/MAX Executives, with offices in Northern Virginia.
What are these ultra-luxury buyers looking for in a home in the D.C. region? Many of the same things anyone with a multimillion-dollar budget would be.
“Private gyms, saunas, home spas, yoga and meditation rooms, indoor lap pools. They have garages that are underground. Home theaters, game rooms, wine cellars, bigger outdoor spaces, gated communities. And also staff quarters. A lot of luxury properties need areas where they can house staff,” Rahnama said.
The majority of $4 million-plus home sales are in McLean, Arlington, Great Falls, Potomac, Bethesda and Chevy Chase. A few are even further outside of the city, where estates also come with many acres of land.
Rahnama said most of these are all-cash buyers. It is also hard to know who many of them are, preferring to buy these homes through LLCs or trusts that mask the buyer’s identity, have tax benefits, and protect owners’ assets from liability.
Are these well-heeled buyers difficult to work with?
“That’s a hard one,” Rahnama said. “Some can be. They expect more. Obviously, when you’re paying in those price ranges, they expect a different level of service.”
Long & Foster’s Luxury Insight report with details on luxury home sales and listings in January is available online.