It's typical for sellers to lower the asking price of their home if it's been sitting on the market for a while. But the super-rich have a different way of dealing with a house that won't sell: Ask for more money.

Amid a tenuous housing recovery, owners of luxury homes are trying to speed up the sale of their homes by raising the asking prices, The Wall Street Journal reports. In the New York Metropolitan area, for example, some 436 properties listed for more than $1 million have had their prices raised in the last year, up from 266 two years ago, according to data from online housing tracker Zillow.com cited by the WSJ.

But while experts point to some signs the housing market is improving, the price hikes aren't likely the result of market forces. Instead, they're probably psychologically driven. Raising the price of a luxury property can give it more attention on the global market, some real estate agents told the WSJ. Meanwhile, unique properties such as those with a connection to a particular architect, artist or celebrity can also sell for more, The New York Times reports.

Some argue that these psychological impressions don't mean the luxury housing market is actually improving. They've certainly got a ways to go; think of the former Goldman Sachs partner who recently bought an apartment in New York’s prestigious 740 Park Ave apartment building for almost half the original asking price. Some housing experts say that analysts have been overstating the strength of the housing recovery and therefore artificially driving up prices, CNBC reports.

But the wealthy have been known to find ways of making the best out of a poor home situation. As the bust of the housing market depleted the value of many homes worth more than $1 million, many wealthy homeowners elected to enter foreclosure to save money, a practice known as strategic default. Poor homeowners by contrast often ended up draining resources by making monthly payments toward a mortgage that had become worth more than the property itself.

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  • 10. Pennsylvania

    <strong>Building permits/total housing units:</strong> 0.15% <strong>Decline in building permits 2005-2011:</strong> -60.29% (11th smallest) <strong>Building permits 2011 YTD:</strong> 8,136 <strong>Total housing units:</strong> 5,567,315 At the beginning of 2011, a number of new, restrictive building codes went into effect in Pennsylvania. This caused a rush among builders to secure permits, with housing permits increasing a massive 117.8% between November and December 2010, according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve. The state's housing market has not been doing well since. Permits issued from January to June 2011 fell 16% compared to the same six-month period one year earlier. The national average for permits issued in the first six months of 2011 compared to the first six months of 2011 is a decrease of 6%. Read more at <a href="http://247wallst.com" target="_hplink">24/7 Wall St</a>.

  • 9. Maine

    <strong>Building permits/total housing units:</strong> 0.14% <strong>Decline in building permits 2005-2011:</strong> <strong>Building permits 2011 YTD:</strong> -77.09% (11th largest) <strong>Total housing units:</strong> 721,830 Maine has seen one of the largest decreases in building permits in the past six years. This is unsurprising as home sales in general declined substantially. Home sales for June 2011 decreased 21.39% from June 2010, according to the Maine Association of Realtors. The state's median sales price also decreased 1.37% over this same period. According to numbers from the Census Bureau, Maine has the highest vacancy rate in the country, reaching 22.8% in 2010. However, this number also includes empty vacation houses. Read more at <a href="http://247wallst.com" target="_hplink">24/7 Wall St</a>.

  • 8. New York

    <strong>Building permits/total housing units:</strong> 0.14% <strong>Decline in building permits 2005-2011:</strong> -61.85% (12th smallest) <strong>Building permits 2011 YTD:</strong> 11,033 <strong>Total housing units:</strong> 8,108,103 New York State's housing market is among the largest in the country. As a result, the number of permits is minuscule when compared to the state's total housing units. Although new home sales decreased in the first half of 2011 from 2010, the number of permits actually increased slightly during that period, from 10,189 in 2010. This is significantly lower than 2005's 28,921 permits. Read more at <a href="http://247wallst.com" target="_hplink">24/7 Wall St</a>.

  • 7. Massachusetts

    <strong>Building permits/total housing units:</strong> 0.12% <strong>Decline in building permits 2005-2011:</strong> 69.55% (24th smallest) <strong>Building permits 2011 YTD:</strong> 3,402 <strong>Total housing units:</strong> 2,808,254 Despite having a healthy economy compared to much of the country, Massachusetts' housing market is beginning to face serious troubles. In June 2011, sales of single-family homes in the state decreased 23.5% from the year before, reaching the lowest level since 1991, according to the Warren Group, a New England real estate research firm. With so few home sales, it follows that not many new homes are being built. Year-to-date, building permits for 2011 are about one quarter of what they were in 2005. Read more at <a href="http://247wallst.com" target="_hplink">24/7 Wall St</a>.

  • 6. Ohio

    <strong>Building permits/total housing units:</strong> 0.12% <strong>Decline in building permits 2005-2011:</strong> -76.61% (12th largest) <strong>Building permits 2011 YTD:</strong> 6,184 <strong>Total housing units:</strong> 5,127,508 Ohio has suffered, and continues to suffer, greatly from the housing crisis. Over 8,000 homes were foreclosed in July 2011, the ninth-largest amount in the country, according to real estate company RealtyTrac. With such a high foreclosure rate, currently at one in every 608 housing units, housing is already too inexpensive for people to want to build. Ohio has therefore had one of the greatest decreases in building permits in the country over the past six years. Median existing home sales are also down in many areas of the state, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. In Toledo, prices are down 17% from one year ago, the third largest rate in the country. Read more at <a href="http://247wallst.com" target="_hplink">24/7 Wall St</a>.

  • 5. Connecticut

    <strong>Building permits/total housing units:</strong> 0.09% <strong>Decline in building permits 2005-2011:</strong> -74.06% (14th largest) <strong>Building permits 2011 YTD:</strong> 1,403 <strong>Total housing units:</strong> 1,487,891 Connecticut has had one of the greatest declines in the number of new building permits in the country. This trend saw a small turnaround in June -- the first monthly year-over-year gain in 2011 in new construction, according to the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development. However, the Hartford Courant reports that for "the first six months of the year, residential construction was down 30 percent compared with the same period in 2010." June was also the first increase in home construction in five years. Read more at <a href="http://247wallst.com" target="_hplink">24/7 Wall St</a>.

  • 4. Michigan

    <strong>Building permits/total housing units:</strong> 0.09 <strong>Decline in building permits 2005-2011:</strong> -82.19% (7th largest) <strong>Building permits 2011 YTD:</strong> 4,250 <strong>Total housing units:</strong> 4,532,233 Michigan is one of the states that has suffered the most from the recession. The state's unemployment rate peaked around 15% in 2010. It is now at 10.5%, which is still significantly higher than the national average of 9.2%. The state has a vacancy rate of just under 15%, which is one of the highest in the country. New building permits have also decreased by over 80% since 2005, also one of the highest rates in the country. The state may now be more focused on tearing down old buildings than building new ones. Read more at <a href="http://247wallst.com" target="_hplink">24/7 Wall St</a>.

  • 3. Illinois

    <strong>Building permits/total housing units:</strong> 0.09% <strong>Decline in building permits 2005-2011:</strong> -84.18% (3rd largest) <strong>Building permits 2011 YTD:</strong> 4,897 <strong>Total housing units:</strong> 5,296,715 Illinois has seen an almost 85% decrease in new housing permits since 2005. This is the third largest drop in the country. There are a number of initiatives being made across the state to improve the housing markets. In Chicago, for instance, Mayor Emanuel has made a number of changes to increase the speed with which building permits are issued. Additionally, a "Micro-Market Recovery Program" has been introduced to slow the city's foreclosure rate. Read more at <a href="http://247wallst.com" target="_hplink">24/7 Wall St</a>.

  • 2. West Virginia

    <strong>Building permits/total housing units:</strong> 0.09% <strong>Decline in building permits 2005-2011:</strong> -72.71% (17th largest) <strong>Building permits 2011 YTD:</strong> 774 <strong>Total housing units:</strong> 881,917 West Virginia's decline in building permits has slowed to almost a crawl. In the first six months of 2005 the state issued almost 3,000 permits. For the first half of 2011, that amount decreased to 774. If every permit were to result in a new housing structure, those homes would represent less than 0.1% of the total housing units in the state. Despite all this, construction is one area that is benefiting the state. According to the organization WorkForce West Virginia, 700 construction jobs were added in-state this past July -- the largest amount of jobs added in the private sector. Read more at <a href="http://247wallst.com" target="_hplink">24/7 Wall St</a>.

  • 1. Rhode Island

    <strong>Building permits/total housing units:</strong> 0.07% <strong>Decline in building permits 2005-2011:</strong> -70.81% (22nd largest) <strong>Building permits 2011 YTD:</strong> 312 <strong>Total housing units:</strong> 463,388 Foreclosure filings increased 4% in Rhode Island from the first six months of 2010 to the first six months of 2011, according to RealtyTrac. Foreclosures dropped by 29% for that same period on the national level. Rhode Island home sales decreased 20% from one year ago in the second-quarter, according to the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. Additionally, median home prices have dropped 2%. These numbers indicate that Rhode Island's housing market is not recovering at the same pace as the majority of the country. For this first six months of this year, the state has issued a mere 312 building permits, the smallest number in the country. Read more at <a href="http://247wallst.com" target="_hplink">24/7 Wall St</a>.