Have you ever wondered who buys and sells luxury homes? How about the strategies employed by agents who work with affluent homeowners? Good news!

The Luxury Home Council has recently released the results of "The 2007 Membership Survey of Luxury Housing Market Trends" just in time to answer all of your burning questions. The survey's findings provide revealing insight into the trends of the luxury home market.

Highlights from the report include:

• The largest percentage of luxury home buyers falls into the 40-50 age group (48 percent) followed closely by the 50-65 age group (44 percent). These affluent buyers are what marketing experts describe as the "Baby Boomer" market, a 78 million strong segment of the population that has reached its peak earning years and is now benefiting from a rising stock market and historically high home prices.

• The most common occupation of luxury home buyers is that of an entrepreneur (51 percent), followed by large business executive (46 percent) or medical doctor (24 percent).

• The number one service affluent home buyers are interested in receiving from their luxury home specialist is help in finding a home (86 percent) followed by help in managing the transaction (56 percent), and expert counsel during a negotiation (43 percent)

• The typical luxury home buyer makes a large cash investment in their home purchase amounting to over a third of the overall purchase price. In many metro markets this would exceed a quarter of a million dollars. This compares to the median amount financed by all buyers in 2006 of 91 percent of the purchase price.

• The average luxury home buyer spends 11 weeks looking for a home and views 12 homes.

• Luxury home buyers on average search for homes consisting of at least 3500-4000 square feet, with 4-5 bedrooms, and 3-4 bathrooms.

• When selecting a home to purchase luxury home buyers often search for a home that will provide a lifestyle not just a place to live. The most popular amenities include gourmet kitchens (95 percent), master bedroom suites (86 percent), specialty construction items (66 percent), high end appliance packages (64 percent), home office suites (58 percent), and home theater rooms (55 percent).

• By far the vast majority of luxury home buyers active in the market today are best described as "new money." This means that they are not merely living off the successes of past generations. This data is further supported by a report from research firm TNS which reports that the number of millionaires in the US has reached an all time high of 9.3 million households as of mid-2006.

• The average listing price for luxury homes is nearly $900,000 dollars, or over four times more than the median price of all US Homes as of May 15, 2007 ($212,300).

To view the complete report, visit luxuryhomecouncil.com.

The 2007 Membership Survey of Luxury Housing Market Trends was conducted between April 24, 2007 and May 29, 2007 utilizing software provided by Zoomerang.com. The survey was sent to 1036 members of the Luxury Home Council, an exclusive group of REALTORS® who specialize in selling Luxury Housing, 202 members provided useable answers to the survey questions.

Published: June 15, 2007

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Jim Remley is a speaker, author, and consultant. He is also an active real estate broker in Southern Oregon where he owns a network of six offices. Jim won the Rookie Instructor of the Year award in 2001 from Realty-U, the largest network of real estate educators in the nation. He was the winner of the 2002 Pacesetter Award, and nominated for the Real Estate Instructor of the Year Award during the first quarter of 2003. To learn more about Jim, please visit ProPerformer.com or e-mail him at .