The Celsius $300,000 Phone
According to The Institute of Luxury Home Marketing, if you’re seeing an increase in luxury buyers in your market, there are at least two good reasons why.
- The number of worldwide wealthy has recovered from the 2008 downturn, when the number of HNWIs plummeted from 10.1 million to 8.6 million in just one year. The current HNWI number has risen to a record 11 million.
Total wealth controlled by wealthy households has also increased since a five year low point in 2008, rising from $32.8 million to $42.0.
These statistics from The Capgemini/RBC World Wealth Report for 2012, offer good news for luxury real estate since demand for homes depends heavily upon the number of households who can afford them. - The post-recession affluent are also in a home shopping mood. Research done last year by Barclay’s found that 57 percent of HNWIs want to increase their residential property portfolios in 2012. This buying attitude is most likely a result of lifestyle desires as well as the view that residential real estate is an investment opportunity and smart portfolio play.
We’ve come across some interesting promos that real estate brokerages are doing to attract the wealthy to their properties.
1. In Phoenix, Jeffrey S. Smith and Tim Halmekangas of The Smith Luxury Group in Scottsdale, are offering buyers a $250,000 2012 Bentley Continental GT3 convertible as a housewarming present if they purchase one of two properties they have listed. One listing is for $16.9 million and the other is for $11.9 million.
2. In Florida, Turnberry International Realty in Miami is marketing the Porsche Design Tower, which features a car elevator so you can store your car IN your unit. “We found that every potential buyer had multiple cars, so giving them a Porsche wasn’t a huge incentive to buying the property,” says broker Seth Kaufman. Instead, Turnberry signed an exclusive agreement with Ultra Luxury Cell Phone maker Celsius X VI II. They design handcrafted cell phones that retail for over $300,000. “They’ve created a limited edition (only three) piece that we are giving as a closing gift with the purchase of a $6 million or higher unit at the Porsche Design Tower. The phones aren’t currently available in the United States and it takes six months for 35 engineers, watchmakers and craftsmen to produce one phone,” says Kaufman.
Tracey C. Velt is a writer, blogger and editorial strategist who specializes
in the business of real estate. For the past six years, she's been writing
and editing for REAL Trends, is the editor of the REAL Trends blog and the editor of LORE magazine. Prior to that, she served as an editor for
Florida Realtor magazine and continues to contribute to multiple real estate
publications, both in print and online.
