Because they have a million “amenities” that nobody asked for or wants, that they charge extra fees for on top of the rent, in order to take every dollar you have.
People are very, very susceptible to marketing. People don’t question what they read often, and take it at face value, and will often subconsciously change their perception based on descriptions like this.
It has become unbelievably expensive to build stuff because of a number of issues ranging from inflation to regulations. So investors are becoming less and less interested in building cheap apartments because the return on their investment will be significantly longer than a swank luxury apartment building
In linguistics this is called the maxim of extravagance, whereby using a word to try and make something sound exciting we ultimately dilute its meaning. You see this all over the place, the best is now “S-tier” because we’ve diluted the meaning of “A-tier”, a premium credit card is now “platinum” because everyone now has a “gold” card, and in a world full of “alpha-males” we now have “sigma-males”. In the process of trying to differentiate apartments we’ve made the word “luxury” ubiquitous and lost all of its meaning, so eventually a new word will come to replace it and the process will start all over again.
When essentially everything is labeled luxury, there is still a market for the places that don’t include that word. Those places are the bottom of the market, and you trade paying less for having no voice with your landlord
To be fair,. most of these “luxury” apartments are at least new.
I live in a 11-story apartment building,.. that’s a building which is 70yrs old. We constantly have issues with Electricity and Plumbing. They can’t really re-do the building (being 70 yrs old) so there’s limited parking spots (and the internal parking is also limited). There’s really no “technology” (since it’s a 70yr old building).. so I can’t do things like electronic locks or etc because everything is to old. The Windows don’t seal very well (since again, it’s a 70yr old building)
I only just recently moved to this city,.. so at the moment I’m kind of stuck in a lease, but I do have the option (upcoming) to go “month to month). Now that I’ve established myself here and have some “emergency fund” saved up,. would I move to a nicer, newer “luxury apartment” if it was nicer and had nicer amenities ?.. Probably yes.
In my area “luxury” means you will get granite counters instead of formica. You’ll probably also get a garden style soaking tub. This I LOVE.
You’ll also likely get hardwood instead of carpet. This is a TRICK!
I hate how carpet holds pet smells so I started seeking out apartments with wood laminate floors. Wow did the noise level increase once I was in those units! After the second place with noise issues I started researching. Turns out a lot of respectable complexes won’t use anything but carpet on non-ground floor units due to how doing so amplifies sound.
I count my blessings that I was able to move into a private home. My peace, sanity, and recording are all thriving comparatively. I hope you find your real “piece of paradise” soon too!
No one answered this in a meaningful way. I work in urban planning and I’ve read a lot of articles and research on this topic. If we’re talking about new apartments all being marketed as luxury part of the reason is it’s incredibly expensive to build any large new building these days to begin with, land acquisition, architects, attorneys, engineers, the construction financing, interest on the loan, contractors, then paying the property management and marketing people for lease up. Putting granite countertops in and stainless steel appliances and “luxury” vinyl plank flooring instead of carpet is a drop in the bucket additional cost versus doing non “luxury” finishes. Luxury in quotes because none of these finishes are true luxury anyway it’s always the most basic entry level stainless steel appliances etc. Real high end fixtures and finishes would never be in a rental in the first place. The amenities help with leasing and reel people in but often don’t get used as much as you’d think. All of this allows them to charge a premium for the apartment and more than offsets the costs of spending slightly more on those “luxury” finishes I mentioned earlier.
Half of those luxury buildings are built with “luxury” cardboard and they start to fall apart within 2 years and you can hear everything your neighbors do within a 5 mile radius. Heck, you can even hear them thinking through the ceiling which is also dripping misterios water through the “drywall”-appearing ceiling.
It is very difficult to build new dwellings in most of the U.S. due to onerous zoning regulations. As a result, when developers do get an opportunity to build, they build high-end expensive units because they know they will be able to fill them, as demand is so high, and these are the most profitable things to build. If we made it easier for developers to build, they would build out enough units to meet the high-end demand and they would start building units to meet non-luxury demand, too. Those aren’t quite as lucrative but they’re still profitable. Prices would drop and everyone could find a place to live. But as long as we make it hard to build, of course they’re only going to build the most profitable types of dwellings.
Comments
Marketing
Same reason every realtor and restaurant is voted number one. Marketing
It is marketing.
I also noticed the over use of the term ‘Community’
It describes the life the owners can live on your rent.
Because they have a million “amenities” that nobody asked for or wants, that they charge extra fees for on top of the rent, in order to take every dollar you have.
Where? What country? That doesn’t apply to Sweden at least. We just call them “new builds”, or “nybyggen”.
Because the word “luxury” has no legal definition meaning you can call literally any product “luxury” and it won’t be false advertising.
Same reason 5 acres is considered a farm now!
It’s like when Buddy the Elf congratulates the bodega owners for having the “Worlds Best Cup of Coffee.”
Because legally they are allowed to lie to you under the guise of free speech
“Apartment Homes”
So the city planning commission won’t see them as places poor and undesirable people live, and will approve the building permit.
People are very, very susceptible to marketing. People don’t question what they read often, and take it at face value, and will often subconsciously change their perception based on descriptions like this.
I’ve heard before that slapping luxury on the label can get them exempt from section 8, but couldn’t verify it when I tried to fact check it.
Executive is another over used term.
Why is ketchup labeled “fancy?”
It’s a positive term without a specific and legally-enforceable meaning.
It has become unbelievably expensive to build stuff because of a number of issues ranging from inflation to regulations. So investors are becoming less and less interested in building cheap apartments because the return on their investment will be significantly longer than a swank luxury apartment building
Sales ploy
Runaway marketing based on a subjective term. You could easily argue that all apartment living is “luxury”
In linguistics this is called the maxim of extravagance, whereby using a word to try and make something sound exciting we ultimately dilute its meaning. You see this all over the place, the best is now “S-tier” because we’ve diluted the meaning of “A-tier”, a premium credit card is now “platinum” because everyone now has a “gold” card, and in a world full of “alpha-males” we now have “sigma-males”. In the process of trying to differentiate apartments we’ve made the word “luxury” ubiquitous and lost all of its meaning, so eventually a new word will come to replace it and the process will start all over again.
Classic marketing tactic! Ugh, don’t fall for it!
$$$$$. No other reason.
When essentially everything is labeled luxury, there is still a market for the places that don’t include that word. Those places are the bottom of the market, and you trade paying less for having no voice with your landlord
So they can justify charting $2500/mo for an apartment that should be $800.
It’s the castor oil they use to shove ridiculous rents down your throat. See? There’s electricity and a roof! Luxurious, isn’t it?
To be fair,. most of these “luxury” apartments are at least new.
I live in a 11-story apartment building,.. that’s a building which is 70yrs old. We constantly have issues with Electricity and Plumbing. They can’t really re-do the building (being 70 yrs old) so there’s limited parking spots (and the internal parking is also limited). There’s really no “technology” (since it’s a 70yr old building).. so I can’t do things like electronic locks or etc because everything is to old. The Windows don’t seal very well (since again, it’s a 70yr old building)
I only just recently moved to this city,.. so at the moment I’m kind of stuck in a lease, but I do have the option (upcoming) to go “month to month). Now that I’ve established myself here and have some “emergency fund” saved up,. would I move to a nicer, newer “luxury apartment” if it was nicer and had nicer amenities ?.. Probably yes.
🎶 money money money giiiive me that money🎶
I deliver to a ton of “luxury” apartments. I’ve seen what they go for. All their halls smell like cat piss. It’s wild
They put some “luxury” touches like stone counters and stainless appliances so they have increase rent $500/mo for unit.
just like “sushi grade” is a market term, so is “luxury”.
They say it so because they can.
In my area “luxury” means you will get granite counters instead of formica. You’ll probably also get a garden style soaking tub. This I LOVE.
You’ll also likely get hardwood instead of carpet. This is a TRICK!
I hate how carpet holds pet smells so I started seeking out apartments with wood laminate floors. Wow did the noise level increase once I was in those units! After the second place with noise issues I started researching. Turns out a lot of respectable complexes won’t use anything but carpet on non-ground floor units due to how doing so amplifies sound.
I count my blessings that I was able to move into a private home. My peace, sanity, and recording are all thriving comparatively. I hope you find your real “piece of paradise” soon too!
Luxury condos typically have nicer ammenities (pool, sauna, gym, golf simulator, etc.), a front desk with concierge and security, etc.
A regular condo will have plastic laminate cabinets and countertops but luxury will have wood and solid surface or real stone.
For apartments, where all occupants are renting from the one owner of the whole building, it’s often just marketing BS.
It’s a luxury to have a roof over your head.
Or like how every restaurant had a ‘recommended’ or ‘most popular’ food item
No one answered this in a meaningful way. I work in urban planning and I’ve read a lot of articles and research on this topic. If we’re talking about new apartments all being marketed as luxury part of the reason is it’s incredibly expensive to build any large new building these days to begin with, land acquisition, architects, attorneys, engineers, the construction financing, interest on the loan, contractors, then paying the property management and marketing people for lease up. Putting granite countertops in and stainless steel appliances and “luxury” vinyl plank flooring instead of carpet is a drop in the bucket additional cost versus doing non “luxury” finishes. Luxury in quotes because none of these finishes are true luxury anyway it’s always the most basic entry level stainless steel appliances etc. Real high end fixtures and finishes would never be in a rental in the first place. The amenities help with leasing and reel people in but often don’t get used as much as you’d think. All of this allows them to charge a premium for the apartment and more than offsets the costs of spending slightly more on those “luxury” finishes I mentioned earlier.
“Luxury” now means you don’t share the bathroom or kitchen with strangers, and you probably don’t have to climb a ladder to get into bed.
because nowadays being able to afford to live in an apartment and pay rent is called a luxury
Same reason every book is an NYT best seller.
Same thing as “apartment home.” Useless term.
I may be incorrect, but I believe if it’s “luxury” apartments, you don’t have to have low income units.
As soon as they add that dark brown/gray wooded floor or marble counters, the price increases by 50%💀
Luxury means you hear your neighbors in HD now
“Luxury suites” on every sigh.
If it’s labeled “luxury” they can charge more and keep section 8 folks out
There is no standard to the label except an inflated rent. That’s all that means.
We are gradually reaching the point where being able to afford to live in an apartment, or any home, is a luxury. So they’re not technically lying.
Clothes being called ‘designer’ is an equivalent
Half of those luxury buildings are built with “luxury” cardboard and they start to fall apart within 2 years and you can hear everything your neighbors do within a 5 mile radius. Heck, you can even hear them thinking through the ceiling which is also dripping misterios water through the “drywall”-appearing ceiling.
So they can justify luxury prices
It is very difficult to build new dwellings in most of the U.S. due to onerous zoning regulations. As a result, when developers do get an opportunity to build, they build high-end expensive units because they know they will be able to fill them, as demand is so high, and these are the most profitable things to build. If we made it easier for developers to build, they would build out enough units to meet the high-end demand and they would start building units to meet non-luxury demand, too. Those aren’t quite as lucrative but they’re still profitable. Prices would drop and everyone could find a place to live. But as long as we make it hard to build, of course they’re only going to build the most profitable types of dwellings.
Because if it wasn’t a luxury apartment they’d have to charge less for it