According to Sotheby’s 2026 Medium-Term Luxury Outlook, 38% of agents in the $10 million+ segment say an aging population is reshaping buyer behavior, with ripple effects far below those in the ultra-luxury segment.
Almost 38% of real estate agents in the $10 million and above segment say aging is a growth factor for buyers.
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According to Sotheby’s International Realty’s 2026 Mid-Term Luxury Outlook, this is a sign that the real estate market’s long-standing intergenerational liquidity is disintegrating.
The report, based on input from Sotheby’s affiliated agents around the world specializing in transactions over $10 million, identifies longevity-oriented living as a breakout trend reshaping home purchases for wealthy individuals this year.
Its data sources include the Federal Reserve, UBS Global Wealth Management, National Association of Realtors, and Global Wellness Institute.
The heading themes are: Buyers are no longer downsizing as planned and the entry-level luxury trade is losing its defining logic.
Longevity rewrites your luxury wish list
The longevity perspective is not anecdotal. The global longevity market, which spans medical technology, wellness products and services, and health-focused real estate, is projected to grow from $5.3 trillion in 2023 to $8 trillion by 2030, according to UBS Global Wealth Management.
According to the Global Wellness Institute, the size of wellness real estate has more than doubled since 2019 and is expected to exceed $1.1 trillion by 2029.
The “forever buyer” is not necessarily older. Buyers are choosing properties primarily based on staying power, rather than resale or step-up potential.
Philip A. White Jr.
“It’s no longer just about where people want to live, it’s about how they want to live as they get older,” said Philip White, president and CEO of Sotheby’s International Realty. “What we are seeing in the industry is not a short-term shift, but a lasting shift in how the world’s wealth is stored, transferred and expressed through property.”
5 million new billionaires to be created
The wealth behind this change is considerable. The net worth of the top 1 percent of Americans reached a record of nearly $55 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to data from the Federal Reserve.
This figure provides a lower bound for the economy under sustained luxury market activity, even as the broader housing market remains stagnant due to interest rate sensitivity. The S&P 500 index rose about 80% from early 2023 to 2025, and the report notes that the rise in cryptocurrencies also supported the index’s upper bound.
More than half (55%) of agents surveyed specializing in properties valued at $10 million or more reported an increase in the number of luxury home buyers in the past 12 months, with average prices increasing by 5%.
Nearly 40 percent of the world’s billionaires currently reside in the United States, and researchers cited in the report predict that there will be 5 million new millionaires worldwide by 2029.
The supply of buyers is also getting younger. 66% of agents surveyed reported an increase in millennial homebuyers, and this number rose to 73% for agents working in the $5 million and above segment.
Sotheby’s attributes this to a shift to earned wealth and an acceleration of intergenerational wealth transfers, a combination that has accelerated since the baby boomer generation’s real estate transfer cycle accelerated.
Lifestyle trumps taxes for now
The report found on the ground that even though high-end urban flights have been predicted for years, the world’s cities have not lost their appeal.
Sotheby’s reports that markets such as New York City, San Francisco, Hong Kong and Milan continue to see steady activity at the top of the market, supported by sustained interest from international buyers in prime properties.
Lifestyle now surpasses taxes as a purchasing motivator, with 62 percent of agents surveyed citing lifestyle as an increasingly important factor, 60 percent ahead of taxes, 53 percent financial stability and 49 percent political stability.
That ranking may change. The report cited the expansion of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s State and Local Tax Credit (SALT) from $10,000 to $40,000 as a factor expected to increase luxury purchases in states with rising property tax rates, potentially causing taxes to rise again.
trickle down effect
For real estate agents operating under $10 million, longevity trends can have downstream effects.
The supply squeeze that has characterized the past three years could become even more acute at the upper-middle end of the market if older, more affluent buyers choose to stay in properties longer rather than downsize.
If the “eternal buyer” theory holds true, the content that agents sell as lifestyle amenities will also be restructured. Medical infrastructure such as hospital proximity, fitness facilities and walkability scores may weigh more heavily in listing conversations than they did a decade ago, even at price points far below the ultra-luxury segment.
“Homebuyers aren’t just investing in a home,” said Bradley Nelson, chief marketing officer at Sotheby’s International Realty. “They are investing in how they want to live and how they want to age.”
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