Ah, to be a luxury developer in the midst of a tightening economic squeeze. As the affluent begin to cut back on things like $300 hair highlights and cult cabernets, the ultra-high end of the real estate market, or at least the marketing machines that promote it, seems to be chugging along without a care in the world.

Among the latest projects to roll out, are the Villas at Amangiri, a collection of 31 homes set in the southern Utah desert near Lake Powell. Last week seven of the villas hit the market for $7 million a pop. The 5,100 square foot homes, each have a modernist design and a plethora of floor to ceiling windows that give front row views of the surrounding canyons and rock walls. The four-bedroom homes have an option for a wine cellar, along with some 9,000 square feet of outdoor living space with a swimming pool, fire pit and meditation platform. The villas are set on the property of the Amangiri Resort, which will be managed by five star operator Amanresorts. The developer, the Canyon Group has taken on similar luxury properties including the Le Melezin Resort in the French Alps, Cousteau Resort in Fiji, and the Amangani Resort in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

While it may seem to be extraordinarily bad timing to announce the sale of multi-million dollar villas in the middle of the desert just as leading real estate indices show that home prices have dropped some ten percent, the Amangiri development is not alone in its bullishness. The Little Nell is expanding its real estate footprint in Colorado and Wyoming, and earlier this year Punta Mita, a luxury development near Puerto Vallarta touted its success selling $7 million home lots. Whether these successes are just luxury blips or sign that the good times are continuing to roll for ultra-luxury developers remains to be seen.