Luxury Buyers Still Move Even When Rates Stay High

Luxury homes don’t follow the same script as the rest of the housing market, and the numbers in 2026 make that impossible to ignore. We dig into what the data is actually saying about luxury home prices and pending sales, why high-end properties can stay resilient even when mortgage rates sit in the mid-sixes, and how that reality contrasts with affordability challenges for traditional buyers.

We also bring it back home to Western North Carolina and Henderson County, where supply and demand still explain most of what you see on the ground. We talk through why “the market” is really a set of smaller, local markets, how days on market can stretch even while demand improves, and what buyers at higher price points are truly shopping for: exceptional views, privacy, architectural quality, outdoor living, and properties that are hard to duplicate.

Then we get practical with tax strategy. We break down the basics of IRS Section 121 for primary residences, including the 2-of-5-year rule and the difference between price and gain, and we share how a 1031 exchange can help real estate investors defer taxes when selling investment property. If you’re thinking about selling a home, repositioning a rental, handling inherited property, or planning your next move with estate planning in mind, this conversation helps you ask better questions before you act.

Subscribe to the podcast, share this with a friend who’s debating a move in Western NC, and leave a review so more local homeowners and investors can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And How To Reach Us

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello, friends. Thank you so much for being here. This is the George Real Estate Group Podcast, which is a production of our live weekly radio shows hosted on multiple radio stations here in Hendersonville, North Carolina. The George Real Estate Group serves Western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina, and it is a privilege to share positive news about our local real estate market and community. Thanks so much for subscribing. And of course, if you have any real estate questions or if we can help you in any way, be sure to reach out. Visit us at George Real Estate Group Radio.com for more information. Good morning and welcome to the George Real Estate Group Radio broadcasts here on the queue every Monday morning. Sharing with you positive news about your local real estate market and community. So grateful to be here with you. What a day it is, what a beautiful day, what a beautiful Monday, and thankful to be here with you, sharing with you positive news about the local real estate market and community.

Cutting Through Real Estate Noise

SPEAKER_01 1:00

There's a lot of noise out there, certainly, about the real estate market and the news and all the things that you read about it. And again, just staying with curiosity. You know, what does the data actually say? What is the market actually doing? You know, what's my neighborhood doing? What's my price point doing? What's my town or community doing? All these things go into play, and we certainly love to address what's happening and give you some clarity, give you some information and and it's some just hopefully, again, as I said at the beginning, positive news about the real estate market. You know, we know real estate happens because life happens, life is happening, therefore real estate happens, and so that's all connected regardless of the economy, regardless of the gas prices, regardless of the grocery prices. I mean, like all of us have a place to live in, you know, whether it's something you're renting, something you were maybe given, maybe it's something you purchase. And again, wherever you are in that journey of maybe it's your first home you're in right now, maybe it's in your 20th home, maybe you think about selling your last home and moving into a retirement community. Maybe it's property that your family's inherited and you're working through your estate, maybe it's an investment property. Again, so many different scenarios. And every situation is unique and different. And we take a very personal uh and custom approach to your specific situation and your unique situation. And certainly at the George Real Estate Group, we have incredible agents, we have incredible staff, but more importantly, it's our clients that make it all possible. So if we can help you in any way, the George Real Estate Group would love to interview for the job. You can call us directly at 828-393-0134, 828-393-0134. Or stop by anytime at the George Real Estate Group's office in Flat Rock, right next to the our friends at the Flat Rock Bakery, our friends at Hubba Hubba Barbecue, Campfire Grill, the Wrinkled Egg, all of our friends there on Rainbow Row in Flat Rock. We serve all of Western North Carolina. I mean, if you'd like to connect with us, call us, stop by. Uh, you can follow us on social media, uh Facebook and Instagram. We post about our new listings and our new inventory and our successes and homes going under contract and homes uh that have closed and are wonderful agents. And again, we'd love to connect with you on social media. We also podcast all of our radio shows. You can find that on your favorite podcast platform. It could be Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Alexa, wherever you're listening to podcasts. You can follow the George Real Estate Group, subscribe to the George Real Estate Group radio podcasts, and we'd love to connect with you there as well. We'd love sharing information and hopefully, hopefully encouraging information and news that will give you some clarity about the market. And of course, back to what I said earlier: your unique situation, your unique home, your unique property. It could maybe it's a family property that you multiple heirs are uh inherited and you're navigating that. Maybe it's the investment property, maybe it's your personal home. And we'll talk a little bit about all of that, but we're here every Monday morning, right after the nine o'clock news, sharing with you, again, positive news, positive information, and hopefully clarifying information about what's actually happening in the real estate market. You know,

Serving Every Price Point

SPEAKER_01 4:20

there's a lot of noise out there, and we try to put some clarity on it, you know, and we work on all price points. I mean, we've helped and we we've we sell the the $10,000, $20,000 lot, if you can imagine. Yes, a few of those still exist. Uh, you know, in a lot of cases, lots that are that uh inexpensive have a significant amount of work that needs to be done on them, from the site prep to the location. I mean, there's many different factors that go into the value of what something's worth. But I mean, yes, I mean, we in the last year we've we've sold properties under $25,000 uh from that uh aspect to the uh we we sell single family homes, condos, town homes, vacant land, large land tracks. Uh it could be uh, you know, uh a mobile home on a lease lot. We have uh some wonderful communities that are 55 plus retirement communities where you might be surprised at what you can get below 200,000 on a lease lot. Uh and and we have wonderful properties there that are are not even in the MLS because of that specific situation. They're on lease lots, but they're wonderful options and homes and communities to consider. And you can call our team if you're curious about those options. But again, from the starter homes to the maybe the downsides or the right size or the uh you know, all different price points, and we help clients with their luxury properties. I mean, it's the gamut, and we've had tremendous successes with luxury properties. And you know, a lot of people in the luxury uh you know price segment. I mean, if you and if you own a home in in that luxury market and wondering whether it's a good time to sell, you know, the answer actually might be more encouraging than the broader housing headlines suggest. And that's

Luxury Market Rules In 2026

SPEAKER_01 6:17

where the housing market in 2026 is not one single market. You know, affordability, attainability remains a major challenge for many traditional home buyers, and and with the mortgages uh rates, the interest rates are are in the mid-sixes and they've been elevated, and monthly payments are significantly higher than they were a few years ago. Here's the thing, though, the luxury housing market plays by a different set of rules. You know, uh affluent buyers are generally less sensitive to mortgage rates and more likely to have substantial equity or investment assets and more capable of making a move when the right property comes available. This is not about the economy or the market. In that uh world that we deal in, in the luxury market, it's more about when the right property comes around. And this is this is helping the upper end of the housing market outperform much of the rest of the market. And so one of the strongest signals for luxury homeowners is what's happening with prices. According to uh, you know, real estate data company Redfin, the median luxury home sales price in the United States reached approximately 1.37 million during the three months ending May 2026, and that was 4.7% higher than a year earlier. And so by comparison, prices for non-luxury homes increased only about 1.5% over the same period, and so, in other words, luxury home prices were increasing at roughly three times the rate of the middle portion of the market. And and of course, that doesn't mean every expensive home is appreciating rapidly. Luxury real estate is intensely local, and the difference between an exceptional property and an average one becomes especially important at the higher price points. So the the to put some context on this again, nationally, the high-end has remained remarkably resilient. Also, prices don't tell the whole story. It's supply and demand, regardless of the price segment. Supply and demand explains everything, the amount of buyers in the market, and I've shared here locally across our entire county. We've had over a hundred more single-family homes sold in Henderson County over the last 12 months than the previous 12 months. So the demand is up across all price segments. Inventory still low comparatively, we still have low inventory. And so here's the thing there is demand in the luxury home market. Pending sales of luxury homes across the United States has increased 5.2% year over year during the first three months ending in 2026 in May. And that's actually the strongest annual increase since December 2024. And that was higher than the 3.6 increase in pending sales for non-luxury homes. And luxury buyers aren't completely immune to economic uncertainty, but many of them are and have something the average buyer doesn't. And and this is where uh, you know, frankly, uh resources and wealth provide probably the biggest thing that you can i it's not about the money, it's really about flexibility and options. You know, this this is where a conventional buyer may have to calculate whether a higher interest rate adds three hundred or five hundred dollars a month uh to their payment, and and maybe they that's just something that's not sustainable. But a buyer shopping for that two million, three million, five million dollar property, they be they they they're making their decision more on their lifestyle, their their wealth, their asset allocation, their relocation, the retirement, or just finding the right property that's unique and and hard to duplicate. And so that's where this this creates a very different demand environment. And and the biggest distinction probably between the luxury housing market and the rest of the market is mortgage rates. You know, these uh the high and yes, and it's not lost on us the impact that these higher mortgage rates have had on attainability, on affordability for for the majority of us. You know, and and you know, whether you know, put aside the luxury market, which is a small segment of the market, but yet it is a significant portion, it's small but significant. You know, the affluent buyers often are paying cash, or they're putting down massive down payments and and usually it's substantial equity from another property, or they're taking money from investment portfolios, or they can and they can borrow against their investments, and they just have the ability to be flexible and pay cash. So

What Luxury Buyers Really Want

SPEAKER_01 12:08

in the luxury in uh market, which we we've we've grateful to find ourselves in and helping a lot of our clients, we have some, we actually uh have some substantial properties that we're offering at the George Real Estate Group, some incredible mountain properties that are uh again, go to our website realestatebygreg.com and you can explore some of the luxury properties that we have on the market, some phenomenal properties that we have in that space. So here's the thing it's these the so so again, clients in that price point, even if uh if by the way, a lot of our luxury clients they can afford to pay cash, but they're choosing to leverage their money and and their decisions not based on whether the mortgage rate moves up, you know, one you know, a percent or something, a quarter of a percent, or even a percent. So this is where again the data suggests, and specifically uh the the study from Redfin noted that luxury buyers tend to be less sensitive to the mortgage rate fluctuations than traditional buyers, which explains why the luxury market is still holding up relatively well during a more normalizing or people are you know the you gotta be careful because the noise out there and the news is saying the sky's falling. That's just not the case. Like I said, in Henderson County specifically, and we work in all of Western North Carolina, in fact, we work in upstate South Carolina too, residential and commercial. The the market is the incre the we've had increased demand. Again, the the there's this the the are days on market longer, yes. Are buyers slowing down in their decision process, yes. And the market is still moving, and so this is where the this is this is where these mortgage rates where they're at right now, but we see even in this environment, everybody, the traditional buyers, not not only the traditional buyers, but the luxury market explains where the the specifically the luxury segments held up relatively well during this you know normalizing or slowdown of a people might say it is a slowdown of the housing market. And so he here's the thing even though there's a smaller pool of the luxury segment, people that are buying now, they they typically have more financial flexibility. The other dynamic is this it's about being selective. Luxury buyers they have the resources, it's not about the money, and they they have the money, but they're very selective. And so at the luxury price points, the higher price points, buyers expect something spectacular, something special, exceptional, unmatched views, which we have actually. We have some of those properties on the market, architectural quality, privacy. Sometimes it's about acreage, it's always about location, the amenities, the high-end finishes, the outdoor living, you know, the property that would be difficult or impossible to recreate. One of the luxury properties that we have on the market would cost twice as much. And by the way, it's already in the uh multi-million price point, but it would cost twice as much to buy the land and rebuild and reproduce that. This is the thing. This is the the thing about the luxury market, it can simultaneously have strong prices and longer marketing times. So longer marketing times, it just takes longer. And I and the interesting thing about that too is the sellers that we work with in this segment understand that. So strong demand doesn't necessarily mean quicker sales times. Strong demand doesn't mean buyers are rushing to purchase everything they see, they're waiting for the right property. And so when the right property, when that property becomes available, they have the ability to move quickly. Also, luxury homeowners still, you know, they have less incentive to sell than many traditional homeowners. In fact, a lot of these luxury homes are not even their primary home. And so some of the some of the the price points, some of the homes that we have in the multimillion, you know, a lot of them are are there's no mortgages on them. Again, some of our our wealthy homeowners, you know, bought property and they took advantage of, you know, a few years ago with interest rates were two, three, four percent. You know, it it's every situation is unique and different. And so, you know, just because a uh a luxury buyer buys another property, it doesn't mean they have to sell anything or or or sell at all. Or sell before they buy. And so that's why there's actually uh can be a restriction on the number of luxury properties on the market. In fact, the new luxury listings increased only about one percent year over year during the three months ending in May 2026. Meanwhile, pending sales in that price segment increase more than 5% across the country, and that's what that imbalance is part what continues to support the luxury pricing. And so while and when a highly desirable property enters the market where there's several qualified buyers in the in that price segment, there's usually less competition and the seller can and is still in a is in a strong position. Doesn't mean you you sell the price it appropriately. Doesn't mean you can can ask whatever you want, and we'll we'll talk about that. But again, we're we're working in all price segments. Like I said, it's a privilege and honor to help our clients help, and we help our clients on the $20,000 lot. We're it's a privilege and honor to help our clients at the $2 million or the $5 million or the $6 million property, which we've facilitated. Again, across all price segments, it is the point is we're advocating and we're facilitating, we're we're consulting, and at the George Real Estate Group, we have the experience and the knowledge and the systems, and we'd love to help. And if you whatever price segment segment you're in, whether it's land, whether it's uh residential, whether it's commercial, whether it's investment or or rental property, whatever that might be, we have uh agents that specialize in each of those different segments. And again, we'd love to have the conversation. You're listening to the George Real Estate Group radio broadcast here in the queue every Monday morning. We love sharing with you news and hopefully information that's helpful and positive and can give some clarity. Regardless, whatever your situation is, whatever it is, we'd love to have the conversation. There's no pressure, there's no cost, there's no obligation. We always come from curiosity and love to have that conversation and see if we can help you in any way. You can call us directly at 828-393-0134. Find us online at realestatebygreg.com. But we have a short break coming up, so stay tuned in and we'll be right back.

Second Segment And Client Approach

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Good morning and welcome back. You're listening to the George Real Estate Group Radio Broadcast here on the queue every Monday morning. We're back for our second segment of the show. And if you're tuning in for the first time ever, welcome. If you're listening to us on our podcast, welcome. Be sure to subscribe. But and we're here every Monday morning and trying to just give some clarity and information and and and we have fun. I love sharing with you about what's going on over the uh you know year. We you know, over the years, I mean, in each month, I mean, we have different guests that join us and and shake it up a bit, but just trying to provide clarity and knowledge and some information that hopefully is helpful for you as you consider real estate. But we love meeting with our clients. Your unique story, your unique situation, whether it's your personal home or investment property or family land or estate, you know, or commercial or land. I mean, whatever it might be. We'd love to sit down, put a custom plan together, understand what your goals are and dreams are, and see how we can help provide clarity. You you might you might meet and say, hey, I actually don't want to sell, which is fine. A lot of our clients just say, hey, can we can we get some guidance and some information? And that's part of it. Just we're we're there's no pressure. And again, if it makes sense, some of our clients we met with a few years ago and they they're calling us, hey, we're ready now. That's fine. This is the long game. This is actually my uh 21st year with my North Carolina broker's license. We have on the team, we have over a hundred years combined experience at the George Real Estate Group uh between our staff and our agents, and and whether it's residential or commercial or or a 1031 exchange, uh, you know, which I'll talk a little bit about that this morning, just uh just to remind you, we specialize with 1031 exchanges as well. That's a tax code that we'll we'll share and get some clarity on. But you know, whatever your situation is, your unique situation, you know, we're so grateful for the opportunity to learn and to sit down and and see if what we do and what you need uh align and if we can help you. You can call us directly, 828-228. 393-0134. Find us online at realestatebygreg.com. Follow us on social media, Facebook and Instagram. Follow our podcasts. We'd love for you to subscribe to our podcast. We podcast all of our radio shows. We also have George Real Estate Group Radio.com. It has our blog there and also our podcasts and uh the different radio shows. And again, grateful to connect. And so we'd we'd love to help. This is really about really it's it's about the relationship and it happens to be. I I tell people I love helping people. It just happens to be happens to be houses or land. I mean, again, the the the opportunity to serve and to to help our clients and and to serve our community through real estate. And our agents are amazing, our staff is amazing, and more importantly, it's our clients that make it all possible. You know,

Section 121 Home Sale Exclusion

SPEAKER_01 22:54

just a quick reminder, again, I mentioned 1031 Exchange, but talk about how the IRS treats your personal home different from uh your property that maybe you have for an investment, and the tax break most people are familiar with is IRS section 121. If the property is your primary home, primary residence, you can actually exclude $250,000 of gain if you're single, and $500,000 of gain for married couples filing jointly. And so there are some rules with that. You must have owned the home and used it as your primary residence for at least two of a five-year period, the five years prior to the sale. And it doesn't have to be a s it doesn't have to be a uh consecutive two years. You could live in it one year, rent it out three, and then live it in live in it another year. That satisfies the two years during the five years prior to the sale. And this is this is this is also uh people think it can only be done once. And that's not true. You you can do this you could technically do this every two years. And there could be there's some confusion sometimes, is it's about the gain. It's not based on the price. And so this is where the five hundred thousand dollars exclusion of gain, for example, if you bought a home for four hundred thousand years ago and then eventually sold it for nine hundred thousand dollars, you know, the this is where you know that that five hundred thousand dollars the four hundred thousand is your basis, and maybe you have you know, you you got your basis, you have your expenses, and then ultimately the gain, you know, it's it's the or for example, uh you bought a home for uh this is where you might not have if you have more than a five hundred thousand dollar gain, you're gonna you are gonna be subject to to to taxes. And again, not to get into the weeds too much. 250 as an individual, 500 for married, and again, it's what you paid for it plus your expenses and improvements, capital gain, capital improvements, plus the gain. So the 500,000 is the gain after what you paid for in expenses.

How A 1031 Exchange Works

SPEAKER_01 25:44

Here's another, and I mentioned earlier the 1031 exchange. Real estate investment real estate gets a completely different treatment. It does not 1031 section 1031 does not give you a 250 or th or $500,000 exclusion. In fact, you know, this is where when you sell an investment property, or by the way, let's say you lived in your personal home for two years, but then you rented it out for more than five years after that, you're gonna miss out on that exclusion for your personal home. Because once the property has been held over five years, well, it's really over three, but because you have to look back over five. But if you've held the property as an investment, property it's no longer your primary, you cannot take advantage of the exclusion. Maybe you go move back. That's interesting. You can move back into the house for two years and then claim it as the primary and get that ex exclusion. However, you know, here's the thing a 1031 exchange, it allows you to defer the gains by exchanging qualifying real estate for another qualifying real estate held for investment. You know, and this is this is where people think, oh, if I have a rental property, I have to buy another rental property. Or if I have land that was an investment, I have to buy land. No, you can actually swap between you could go from land to a rental property, or you could go from a rental property to commercial property, you could go from commercial property to multifamily, you could go from a multifamily back to land. I mean, like investment for investment. You know, this is where if you you know if you think you're selling a rental property, you have to buy it. This is a myth. You know, you know, it's this it's much broader than than you might think. And so you're this is one of the ways to if you're selling an investment property to reinvest it into another real estate and defer the taxes, and it can be a strategy that can be incredible to to build wealth, to protect preserve your family's to preserve your family's wealth, and and it can be a very successful way to to uh you know navigate through you know owning real estate. Also, also your your investment property, you know, again, the capital gains that you're gonna be looking at, of course, consult your tax cons tax advisor. We work closely with estate attorneys, tax advisors, financial advisors. We work in concert, and again, what I'm sharing with you about the 1031 exchange, and again, not to get into the weeds too much, we work in concert with this entire team to help you look at your options. The number one, probably the biggest challenge with the 1031 exchange is the replacement property. And that's where we can help. We have access to replacement property that you know you might be surprised at your options there. And again, not to get into the weeds too much, but we've been working with uh we have access to institutional level replacement property that satisfies the IRS. Again, whether it's land, whether it's land you've inherited, whether it's commercial property or commercial development, we'd love to have the conversation. This is where your unique situation, your unique, your real estate investment portfolio, all those things, not just your personal home, we have the bigger picture and we look at tax strategies, we look at uh we look at wealth strategies and wealth preservation and and thinking long-term with your legacy. And so we'd love to have the conversation and love to have have this. And again, whether it's your personal home, investment property, estate planning, all those pieces, we're having these conversations regularly and and love to have the conversation with you uh and to navigate all that.

Wrap Up And Contact Info

SPEAKER_01 29:54

We're so thankful. I know it got into the weeds a little bit. Hope you enjoyed it. If you have any of that mix has questions, call us directly, 828-393-0134. Time flies when you're having fun. Have a great day, have a great week, and we'll see you next Monday.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

The George Real Estate Group has the experience of selling over 1,200 properties and serving over 1,200 families with their real estate needs in Henderson County and throughout Western North Carolina. The George Real Estate Group is located in Flat Rock, North Carolina and near Hendersonville in Henderson County. You can find them online at realestatebygreg.com. The George Real Estate Group can be reached at 828-393-0134 or stop by their office at 2720 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, North Carolina. Tune in live each week on Monday mornings at 905 on WTZQ FM 95.3 and 1600 AM, or stream online at WTCQ.com.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Maybe

Right-Sizing And Next Chapter Message

SPEAKER_01 31:04

the house feels a little too big these days. The stairs a little steeper. The pace of life a little too fast. But what if your next move wasn't about letting go? It was about making space for peace, for freedom, for what matters most. At the George Real Estate Group, we understand that real estate isn't just about the house. It's about transitions, timing, and trust. We've helped thousands of families in Western North Carolina make smart, thoughtful moves closer to nature, closer to family, closer to home. So when you're ready to rise size, simplify, or start fresh, we'll be here. The George Real Estate Group. Local, trusted, proven. Call us today, 828 393 0134. Find us online at realestatebygreg.com because your next chapter deserves to feel just right.