Talking luxury real estate

Ultra-rich still bullish

Real estate broker Olivia Hsu Decker guided guests through an $8 million fixer-upper last weekend at an invitation-only open house in Presidio Heights, one of San Francisco's toniest neighborhoods.

Decker just sold the house with drop-dead San Francisco Bay views to Richard and Barbara Pivnicka, developers who plan a $3 million redo before putting it back on the market next year for perhaps $15 million. Sounds audacious, given mounting evidence of a real estate slowdown amid rising interest rates and fears of a housing bubble.

But the market for homes selling for $10 million or more won't be easily pinched. Supply is tight, and demand nearly insatiable among increasingly rich corporate tycoons. "A great target market," Barbara Pivnicka says.

High-end real estate market still sizzling [USA Today]