Highlights on atlantaSKYrise ®:

• Convenient drop down to select your luxury condo project
• Access to all available Atlanta Penthouse listings – use the handy Penthouse Slider for quick access
• Multiple Options available to view available properties (with quick links to New Condo Listings, Price Drops and Foreclosures)
  • Search by Interactive map
  • Search by Radius *NEW
  • Search the entire MLS database live. Search condos, plus single family homes and & rentals
  • Search within a specific map area
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  • Search for price changes
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The Residences at the W Atlanta Downtown has relaunched their sales campaign, this time with even lower pricing than before. These units have been reduced roughly 60% from their original prices. Pretty amazing. With only 74 units in the building, I think we’ll now see some movement in this project and have some really great condos in the downtown area to call home.

The units are spectacular, with premium finishes throughout each and every unit. Homeowners have access to all amenities and services of the hotel, including Whatever/Whenever®, the W brand’s 24/7 service philosophy; preferred access to Bliss® Spa, BLT Steak®, the Living Room,
DRINKSHOP and WETBAR; use of WET® heated pool, Sweat Fitness®, Pet Services, Private Helipad, Housekeeping, Wheels® Valet services; and Starwood Preferred Guest® Gold Membership, among other exclusive owner benefits. The on-site residents concierge can handle all of your  desires, as long as there legal.

The new pricing makes living at the W more affordable than ever. One bedroom condos now start at an astonishing $199,900, two bedrooms from $299,900, three bedrooms from $859,900 and stunning two-story penthouses with huge walls of windows from $1,282,900. Click Here for More Photos & the Rest of the Feature

Starting October 1, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will cut the size of loans they buy from lenders. What does this mean to you if you are purchasing homes in the luxury market? Loan limits will drop (to $625,000) and it may end up costing buyers more to purchase the home you want, especially if you are already under contract to purchase. The reality is future borrowers may be pushed into the more expensive, hard to get jumbo loans.

Our condo market inventory is shrinking. Many condo buildings (Luxe, Viewpoint, Paramount, Twelve Centennial Park, Terminus, Serano and Gallery) are either completely sold out or nearly sold out. Other projects like Aqua, The Ritz-Carlton, Sovereign, 1010 Midtown and The Atlantic are closing condos at a brisk pace. At Luxe, they only have two units left to sell and both are priced above $700,000.

You can check out the article in USA Today here.

Highlights on atlantaSKYrise ®:

• Convenient drop down to select your luxury condo project
• Access to all available Atlanta Penthouse listings
• Multiple Options available to view available properties
  • Search by Interactive map
  • Search the entire MLS database live. Search condos, plus single family homes and & rentals
  • Search within a specific map area
  • Search pre-foreclosure and foreclosures
  • Search for price changes
• Register to save your searches and favorite properties
• Connect with me through an Instant Chat application.
• Receive email alerts when I update my blog or send my e-blasts

Remember to sign up for automatic updates!

Take a look at my site and let me know what you think.

Additionally, my site has been updated with new MLS search features.
Click here to read the post on what has changed and how to use it to your advantage.

It’s not surprising condo closings above $1,000,000 haven’t been all too great in the past year, but the question is are luxury sales picking up in Atlanta? Slow and steady wins the race? In today’s real estate climate, luxury developers are willing to give incentives to buyers, but would rather keep their pricing where it is – and that means units stay on the market sitting empty for months. Some luxury projects have not seen any new sales this year, and those include The Mansion on Peachtree, W Downtown Atlanta Residences and the St. Regis Residences in Buckhead.

Most of the movement in the condo market has been in the lower and middle end, leaving room for a huge buyers market in the upper end of the spectrum. That being said, what are luxury condo buyers purchasing above $1,000,000? Penthouses! When you look at the sales below, you’ll notice 5 of the 8 closings have been penthouse sales. Two more are in my favorite building – Sovereign. In that building, buyers are purchasing the larger units and nothing under $1,000,000 has closed. The Astoria also closed a larger unit very close to the million dollar mark. Unit size and location do matter!

1. Ritz-Carlton Residences Buckhead Penthouse 3401 | Closed on 3/16 for $2,582,500 (MLS Available Properties)
2. Sovereign Unit 4301 | Closed on 2/7 for $2,100,0000 (MLS Available Properties)
3. Sovereign Unit 4101 | Closed on 2/24 for $1,775,000 (MLS Available Properties)
4. 10 Terminus Place Penthouse 3201 | Closed on 2/15 for $1,700,000 (MLS Available Properties)
5. 10 Terminus Place Penthouse 3101 | Closed on 2/15 for $1,300,000 (MLS Available Properties)
6. Gallery Residences Penthouse 2602 | Closed on 3/31 for $1,000,000 (MLS Available Properties)
7. The Astoria Unit 904 | Closed on 2/11 for $935,000 (MLS Available Properties)
8. 805 Peachtree Penthouse 605 | Closed on 1/31 for $725,000 (MLS Available Properties)

In the second quarter of 2011, Sovereign, the Ritz-Carlton Residences and The Brookwood are set to close condos above $1,000,000.

I’m pleased to be in included the company of such esteemed experts. Flip through the latest issue of the Men’s Book Atlanta to see what we had to say.

I’m so excited because atlantaSKYriseblog.com turns three this weekend! Thank you for making atlantaSKYriseblog.com the number one condo blog in Atlanta! What was the top post in the three years my blog has been around? Click here to find out.