High-end homes may be out of reach for most people, but the price of luxury is slipping a little lower these days.
The entry point for buying a luxury home dropped to $1,200,005 during the month of August, according to a new report from Realtor.com. That’s a 4% drop from July 2025, and the latest decline in 29 straight months of falling luxury home prices.
For the purpose of tracking the upper tiers of the real estate market, Realtor.com defines a luxury home as anything above the 90th percentile of list prices. Listings priced between the 90th and 95th percentile are categorized as entry-level luxury houses, while listings above the 95th percentile fall into the high-end luxury category. The 99th percentile marks the uppermost tier, defined as ultra-luxury listings that often are rare or custom properties, according to Realtor.com.
The top 5% of listings dipped 4.2% in August compared to last year, with the top 1% of listings falling 4.6% during the same time period. In August 2025, high-end luxury homes in the 95th percentile started at $1,894,230, while the uppermost echelon of luxury homes fell to a still stratospheric $5,163,712.
With list prices sliding a bit, high-end homes also sold more quickly over the last year. Entry-level luxury homes sold four days faster than they did last August, though they sat on the market a week longer than they did in July of this year.
“August shows a luxury market in recalibration, with mixed signals across measures,” Realtor.com senior economist Anthony Smith said in the report. “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.” Smith described the market as “adjusting in several directions at once.”
The price of luxury varies
The state of the luxury real estate market varies depending on where you look. Buying a luxury home will cost you the most in Los Angeles, where the entry point into the top 10% of the most expensive homes is $3,919,381. Kahului-Wailuku, Hawaii, follows closely behind, with entry-level luxury listings starting at $3,908,500. The Bridgeport, Connecticut, metro area trails slightly with a $3,881,000 entry-level luxury price point.
Out of the top three most expensive luxury markets, prices in Bridgeport fell by 6% in August from the previous month compared to a 1.9% decline in L.A. and a 1.1% drop in Kahului-Wailuku.
In some markets, a wide chasm separates the entry-level tier of the real estate market from its top end. That difference is most pronounced in Hilo-Kailua, Hawaii, where the top 10% of homes by list price start at $1,995,000, but the top 1% of listings are priced more than six times higher, starting at $12,397,360. In the U.S. overall, the average ultra-luxury home costs a little over four times as much as an entry-level luxury home.
“Luxury is not defined by one national price point,” Smith said. “Some have a broad, deep luxury tier, while others pair a more accessible high-end market with a small group of trophy properties.”
