Home purchases fuel consumer spending that accounts for about 70 percent of the economy -- and at the high end spending on decorating, furniture and appliances is much greater per home. Properties priced for more than $1 million accounted for about 2.4 percent of all home sales in June, up from 1.3 percent in early 2012 when the rest of the market began recovering, according to the National Association of Realtors.

“Wealthy families are gaining confidence in the economy and they’re seeing stability in their investments,” said Nikki Michelini, director at wealth management firm Aspiriant in Los Angeles. “A lot of them are saying now is the time to buy a house.”

The upper tier of real estate that’s now rising the fastest also fell the hardest during the financial meltdown. Sales of property priced for more than $1 million tumbled 41 percent in 2008 as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell to an 11-year low. It was preceded by a 4 percent falloff in 2007. In the wider market the collapse began in 2006 with a 39 percent plunge through 2007, followed by a 3.8 percent drop in 2008, according to the Realtors’ association.

Harder Fall

“The luxury market came down harder than the rest of the market because people didn’t want big mansions anymore,” said Nick Sadek, who brokered the purchase of the Granite Bay home. “They lost a lot in the stock market crash.”

Homes priced at more than $1 million lost about 46 percent of their value during the housing crash, according to a Bloomberg survey of sales in the top four cities, based on valuation data from Zillow.com. Since then, their value has more than doubled. Home prices in the broader market fell to $154,600 in early 2012 and increased to $214,200 in June, according to the Realtor’s group.

The surge in home sales in the plus $1 million category in 2013’s first half was led by the Seattle metropolitan region’s 61 percent jump, according to DataQuick. The Sacramento area that includes Granite Bay was next, at 60 percent. Seattle had a first-quarter median home price of $312,600, according to the Realtors’ group. In Sacramento, the median was $209,300.

Charlotte Gains

San Diego and Charlotte, North Carolina tied for third place, at 52 percent. The median home price in Charlotte was $155,400 in the first quarter, and in San Diego it was $412,300. The metropolitan area around the nation’s capital gained 44 percent, in Boston the increase was 25 percent, in Stamford, Connecticut, it was 14 percent, and in Philadelphia it was 12 percent.

Nationally, the median price for a single-family home was $176,600 in the first quarter, according to the Realtors’ group.