The newest trend in luxury goods is developing like a snowball effect. As the rich are becoming richer, and develop more affinity to flaunt their buying power, the middle class is following right behind in purchasing more luxurious goods. The Palm Beach Post reported that households in the $50,000-$150,000 income range are stretching upward to buy luxury goods.
No wonder the middle range is reaching for bigger, better and more luxurious. The rich are making more and spending even more. With a luxury good market offering opulent luxurious items as:
Vertu’s $310,000 Signature Cobra cell, outfitted with one pear-cut and one round diamond, or the cheaper model with python for $115,000. Then there is Volkswagen, in talks to re-launch its luxury Phaeton model in the U.S starting at $76,000. And Versace who has moved from clothing to hotels and now delving into helicopters, at an undisclosed starting price, (you make the math)
The U.S luxury good market is booming now more than ever. Spectrem Group, a Chicago-based research firm published their Affluent Market Insights 2007 which reports that the number of U.S. households with a net worth of at least $5 million has climbed past 1 million for the first time. And households with a more modest net worth of $1 million are now 9 million strong.
Not only are the rich getting richer but more people are also becoming millionaires.
The trend is also exploding in Florida with developments such as the Chi condo tower in Sunny Isles Beach. Marketed as a fourth home, where each unit comes with its own mineral-water swimming pool and Philippe Starck-designed toilet. “There’s this insatiable appetite for the most luxurious,” says Faith Hope Consolo, chairwoman of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s retail leasing sales division.
We can definitely say that the cake has gotten more layers and more people want a bigger chunk of it!
Via Palm Beach Post
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