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Realtor.com®: Seven Figures Is Not What It Used to Be - Luxury Now Starts at $1.3 Million
The entry-level luxury home price has soared by more than 60%, from $796,922 in July 2016 to $1.3 million in July 2025 Once the hallmark of luxury,
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[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n The entry-level luxury home price has soared by more than 60%, from $796,922 in July 2016 to $1.3 million in July 2025\n \n \n Once the hallmark of luxury, million-dollar homes now make up 13% of U.S. listings, and breaking into the top 10% luxury tier today takes nearly $300,000 more\n \n \n \n AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A million-dollar home used to be the epitome of luxury, but Realtor.com®'s new What is Luxury Report shows that the luxury threshold has risen from $796,922 in 2016 to about $1.3 million today. While a $1 million home was comfortably above the luxury bar in 2016, buyers now need to spend closer to $1.6 million to reach that same level of luxury status.\n \"While a million-dollar home still represents an important benchmark, it's not the luxury marker that it once was nationwide and in many markets,\" said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com®. \"With or without a seven-figure price tag, luxury is often about exclusivity and relative standing in a local market. In many areas a high-end home can rise many multiples above the area's typical home price. Further, with a dramatic rise in home prices, Realtor.com® data shows just how dramatically the definition of luxury has shifted over the past decade.\"\n \n The New Luxury BenchmarksLuxury isn't a fixed price point, that's why Realtor.com®'s report defines it by the share of the most expensive homes, both nationwide and in each market. Nationally, a $1 million listing used to sit just below the top 5% of homes in 2016 and was still among the top 10% before the pandemic. Today, the thresholds look like this:\n \n \n Entry-level luxury: The top 10% most expensive homes nationwide; starts at $1.3 million\n \n High-end luxury: Top 5% of homes nationwide; starts at $2.0 million\n \n Ultra-luxury: Top 1% of homes nationwide; starts at $5.4 million, where uniqueness, location, and lifestyle amenities often outweigh traditional valuation.\n \n Nationwide, entry-level luxury homes are listed for nearly three times the median U.S. home price of $439,450 (July 2025), while high-end luxury prices start at nearly five times that, and ultra-luxury climbs to more than 12 times the typical home price.\n \n Where Luxury Costs the Most: Coastal Markets Lead Realtor.com®'s report identified both metro and micro areas across the country with the highe...