"While 2025 battered the broader housing market with inflation, elevated interest rates, and rising labor and material costs, the luxury segment continued to thrive. "The luxury market has been extremely resilient and continues to outperform the overall market," says Nishu Sood, a housing expert at John Burns Research & Consulting, an independent research firm specializing in real estate. Yet this resilience masks a more complex reality."
"The upper end of the market is undergoing a fundamental shift-one driven less by aspiration than by anxiety. Many of today's luxury buyers are making decisions through a lens of risk mitigation rather than creative vision. For design professionals, understanding these forces means recognizing that even as luxury real estate thrives financially, it increasingly values safety over statement-making. AD PRO spoke to real estate professionals, designers, and builders about this phenomenon in our report on the luxury real estate trends of 2026."
"Social media hasn't just influenced aesthetics-it has narrowed what buyers consider acceptable. While the design world has embraced the return of color and maximalism (see AD PRO's 2025 Color Trend Report), the real estate market has not yet caught up. "The '50 Shades of Beige' look, where all the furniture is off-white and the walls are all white sheetrock, is still a go-to," says AD100 designer Ross Cassidy."
2025 battered the broader housing market with inflation, elevated interest rates, and rising labor and material costs, yet the luxury segment continued to thrive. The upper end of the market is shifting from aspiration toward anxiety-driven, risk-mitigating buying decisions. Design priorities increasingly favor safety, neutrality, and durability over bold, statement-making aesthetics. Social media algorithms have narrowed acceptable aesthetics, promoting neutral, beige-driven looks that appeal to buyers seeking predictable resale and market resilience. Wealthy buyers are also seeking functional features such as multigenerational layouts and aging-in-place design. Designers and builders are responding by prioritizing conservative palettes and practical amenities.
Read at Architectural Digest
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