Luxury buyers finally decided to take a pause in 2022 as economic volatility shook the market. But despite a market slowdown, luxury companies and agents kept making interesting moves

New markets require new approaches and tactics. Experts and industry leaders take the stage at Inman Connect New York in January to help navigate the market shift — and prepare for the next one. Meet the moment and join us.

Following a standout year in 2021, the luxury real estate market finally hit a long- awaited blip in 2022 — but not right away.

Through years of a dreadful coronavirus pandemic, luxury clients continued to put their money into real estate as favorable market conditions like record-low interest rates spurred them to buy, while many continued to wonder how long this honeymoon phase of investing cheaply could last. But as much as high-net- worth individuals typically appear to be unaffected by larger market forces, this year ultimately proved otherwise.

A few high-profile agents made major moves

Amid a shifting market, a number of high-profile luxury agents made major moves in 2022, whether that was through switching brokerages or otherwise changing up their business strategies.

The year started off with Eklund, star of Million Dollar Listing for over a decade, announcing that he would be leaving the show. Eklund started on Million Dollar Listing New York in 2010, then regularly made appearances on Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles in 2020 and 2021 as the Eklund Gomes Team expanded to the West Coast. Following his departure, Eklund went on to develop the agent social app REAL with Hong Kong-based real estate entrepreneur Thomas Ma.