Interest rates continue to slow home sales across much of Orlando, Florida, but the region's luxury market is not moving as one. According to Bent Danholm, broker and founder of Danholm Collection, the high end of Central Florida's market has split in two, with buyers at the very top largely unaffected by rates and buyers just below feeling the pressure. For anyone buying or selling in the $1 million-plus range, knowing which side of that line a home sits on can shape the list price, the marketing plan, and how long the sale is likely to take.
Danholm puts the dividing line at roughly $2 million to $2.5 million. Above that range, he says, buyers are not really affected by interest rates because most have the option to pay cash. "Even if they were planning on financing, they would usually be able to switch to all cash and then just finance when the rates drop," he says. Below that line, between about $1 million and $2.5 million, a much higher share of buyers depend on a mortgage, and Danholm says they are feeling the effect of higher rates. Not every buyer in that range finances, but when a large part of a price band pulls back, the whole band slows down. Under $1 million, the effect is even clearer, with most deals still closing being financed purchases.
What could slow the very top of the market? Not rates, Danholm says, but a falling stock market. A sharp drop in equities would hit wealthy buyers' net worth directly, and that is when he would expect them to start holding back.
The split is easy to see when two of the Orlando area's high-end communities are compared side by side. In Golden Oak, which Danholm describes as probably the highest-priced luxury market in the Orlando area, the median sale price was just over $8 million in the six months ending in September. Danholm Collection's October 2026 market report found no active single-family listings in the community as of October 21. Median days to contract fell from 123 to 32 compared with the six months before. The report also supports his point about rates: of the 16 buyers who closed in Golden Oak over the 13-month report period, 14 paid cash. Danholm is careful not to read too much into the numbers, since the community recorded only 15 sales in the past 12 months. Still, he says a correctly priced home listed in Golden Oak today would likely sell quickly because buyers who missed out on recent listings are still looking.
Celebration shows a more mixed picture. In the $1 million to $2 million range, the company's October report counted 12 active listings, and those homes had been on the market for a median of close to 100 days. Homes in that range that did sell went under contract in a median of about 36 days, and a little under half of those buyers used financing. The difference between the homes that sell and the homes that sit often comes down to price.
For sellers planning to list early next year, Danholm's advice has less to do with rates and more to do with positioning. "Buyers definitely know they have choices," he says. That means a seller's job is to make the home the only real choice for the right buyer. Danholm's approach is to market the features that set a home apart, so a buyer cannot easily swap it for another listing down the street. Sellers in the $1 million to $2.5 million range should also be ready to negotiate. At the very top, where inventory is thin, the picture is different: a well-marketed home that is priced right and reaches the right buyers is unlikely to face much pushback on price once that buyer is found.
The mistake Danholm expects to see most in 2027 is overpricing. He regularly sees listings that start well above what the market supports, get reduced again and again, and finally sell for less than they likely would have with the right price from day one. "They'll be sitting too long, and they'll end up selling for less than they could have," he says. For sellers in the price bands most affected by rates, there is less room for error. Those who want a realistic starting point before choosing a list price can request a home valuation from Danholm Collection. Interest rates do still matter in Orlando's luxury market, but how much they matter depends on the price point, and knowing which side of the line a home falls on is the first step to pricing and marketing it well.
