Want a Luxury Home? Sleep is Overrated.

April 10, 2015

There is widespread agreement that less sleep is bad for your health.  And higher wages reduce the amount of time spent sleeping.  Recent research on this topic by the CDC showed that the wealthier you are, the less you sleep – with time spent working as the deciding factor.  CDC asked study participants, “On average, how many hours of sleep do you get in a 24-hour period?”

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Source: CDC

On average, adults earning the highest incomes — around $98,000 for a family of four — sleep 40 minutes less than people in the lowest-income families. And among short sleepers — those who are in the bottom 10 percent of nightly rest — high-income people are overrepresented, according to the government survey that sleep researchers trust most.

Sleep is a luxury good.

I’m clearly reaching here, but the optics of today’s housing market is obsessed with the super luxury segment – residences in super tall buildings, giant estates and the like. There has been much discussion with the analogy of “how we’re building the world’s most expensive bank safety deposit boxes in the sky” that owners can place their valuables within and seldom visit.  Few homebuyers actually “sleep” in these expensive homes. I’ll bet today’s average wealthy homeowner and homebuyer around the world has more unused (“unslept”) bedrooms than at anytime in history.  And with the 24/7 luxury real estate coverage ranging from television shows and magazines, it’s just a hop-skip-and-a-jump to say many who follow this world have aspirations that include less sleep and even less of this.

So Let’s Wake Up and Talk Market Reports

I’m deep into our quarterly market report gauntlet, having released our latest research for Douglas Elliman yesterday that covered the New York metro area housing markets of:

  • Manhattan, Brooklyn & Queens Rentals
    An improving local economy and tight mortgage lending conditions have help maintained upward pressure on rents.  Median rental price increased 6.1% to $3,395 from the same month a year ago, the second highest level since January 2008 when the metric was first recorded.  For the second consecutive month, Brooklyn rental price indicators were mixed, after seeing 5 consecutive months of year-over-year gains.  March rental price indicators in northwest Queens were mixed again.
  • Brooklyn Sales
    Brooklyn housing prices continued to push higher as a robust economy, limited inventory and rising demand from people intent on living in a redefined Brooklyn kept the pressure on.  Median sales price increased 17.5% from the prior year quarter to a record of $610,894, the highest result in the 12 years this metric has been tracked.
  • Queens Sales
    Since last fall, price indicators for the Queens housing market have been rising.  An improving local economy, low mortgage rates and low inventory have played a role in the increases.
  • Westchester & Putnam County Sales
    Single family median sales price was unchanged from the year ago quarter at $600,000 while the luxury single family market median sales price of $2,386,625 showed modest price growth of 5.4%.

Next week we publish a slew of housing market research for South Florida where I aspire to sleep on the beach.

Jonathan MillerM
President/CEO
Miller Samuel Inc.
Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants

ps Please feel free to share.  If you get tired of all the charts, real estate commentary and articles presented in each weekly note, just opt out.  I always appreciate feedback so please email me.

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