If, like most people, you are interested in real estate news and browse the headlines every now and then, chances are you might have read about it already ... and in case you haven't heard about it, then you might be very, very surprised about a new trend that may be contrary to what many people expect ...

Firstly, let's start with a few teaser questions ...

Let's suppose you had a lot of money ... hoards of it ... in early 2000, and were willing to invest it in real estate. The question is ...

What sort of real estate do you think you would have purchased ? Would you have purchased single family homes, multi family homes, two bedroom condos, raw land, coastal real estate, luxury homes, or ... ?

If you are trying to guess the answer, please do so now before you read the rest of the article :-)

Assuming you have your answer in mind, let's proceed ...

If your answer is been one of single family homes, multi family homes, two bedroom condos then give yourself a pat on the back ... you might have made quite a tidy amount of money ...

And if your answer is luxury homes, then give yourself two pats on the back, smile the biggest, most pleasant smile you have ever smiled ... you might have made well over a million dollars in profits :-)

For ...

Luxury Homes are now one of the best performing segments in the real estate market !

And what does that mean ?

Well, you might want to consider this ... according to some sources, after a decline of 7.1% in 2001, this segment gained 3.6% in 2002, 0.3% in 2003, 13.7% in 2004, and 13.2% in 2005 ... And just what would that mean in terms of money ?

According to the Prestige Home Index, the price of an average luxury home in California's Bay Area is now $2.88 million - an increase of $336,000 from the previous year !

And that is more money than what selling several homes profitably might have made !

And just how many people could have foreseen this trend ? Well, your guess maybe as good as anyone else's in this regard !

While no one may be able to determine how long this trend will continue, there might be several other segments in the real estate market that might perform equally, if not better, in the future.

And one such possible segment may be ...

Vacation Real Estate

Another growing trend has been that people young and old have been moving to destinations like the Mexican Riviera, and are either setting up home there or are buying second or third homes there ... and gated communities are being set up in areas that were not very long ago petite little villages.

And the result - real estate values not seen before in the area ... and the values seem to be increasing too.

And how long will this trend continue ? Again, your guess may be as good as anyone else's in this regard.