According to recent data, the average price of a home in the most expensive 1% of the US market is around $1.5 million. Most buying a $1 million home need a household income of at least $250,000 per year and only about 9% of US households earn this or more. The biggest challenge will continue to be supply, and this may get worse in areas where there are no super-prime locations to build new inventory. When 'location, location, location' drives home-buying for the wealthy, building 'out there' won't be as appealing as established neighborhoods.

Recent data shows about 1.3 million American households are considered to be in the top 1%, but this varies from area to area based on cost of living. To be in the 1% of earners in Connecticut requires twice the income ($953k) of that in Oklahoma ($460k). The 2023 median household income in the US was $80,610, a 4% increase from 2022 and the first significant annual increase in median household income since 2019. Just 14.4% of US households earn $200k or more. 

The wealthiest 9% amongst us are bound to do extremely well over the next few years financially as they own assets in addition to homes (art, stocks, companies, commodities, crypto, etc.). They may also be greater beneficiaries of re-distributed wealth from older generations ($80 trillion and growing). They are bound to benefit from future US policies that most believe will raise prices and keep taxes lowered. So while all of this is also bound to keep rates higher than we'd like, this may be offset by rising incomes and wealth.