This old, very expensive, house

A recent survey of wealthy Americans, or those with more than $1.35 million a year in discretionary income, done by American Express Publishing and Harrison Group, found that high-end home buyers feel this year is a great one to buy property.

One reason has to do with financial market conditions. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 5 percent this year, and the Standard & Poor's 500 has dropped 10 percent. Real estate in prime locations allows buyers to hedge against the risks of a sagging market and a sinking dollar by putting their money into a less volatile asset, similar to the reasons that people invest in gold. The highest end of the luxury market, above $20 million, has not softened like the general market.

"Over the long haul, quality real estate has never been a loser," says Jim Taylor, vice chairman of the Harrison Group, a marketing and strategic research firm in Waterbury, Conn. "If you've paid in cash, you're balancing your portfolio against market risk. They're not printing any more land, even if they are printing more money."

Miller says that the upper end of the Manhattan market, or homes $8 million and up, has seen its inventory contract by 35 percent over the last year. "If we were having this conversation six to nine months ago, we'd say it was Wall Street bonuses," he says, "but the weak dollar has certainly played a role."

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In addition, sellers like Trump, with his $25 million price reduction, are increasingly flexible.

"The resistance has lessened,” says Nelson Gonzalez, a broker at Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell in Miami Beach. “Smarter sellers are dropping their prices, and buyers are coming up a little bit more to make deals."

He says in an elite enclave of the Venetian Islands, in Miami Beach, where one will often find sales of $20 million and up, there have been more sales in the first quarter this year than all of last year combined. In 2007, there were 13 total waterfront sales. Through the first quarter this year, 12 waterfront properties have closed or are in contract.

Whether that pickup in high-end activity means this will be the year of the $100 million sale is anyone's guess. We've been waiting two-and-a-half-years.

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