Sales of $100M+ Homes Are Skyrocketing

MIAMI – In the last four years, about 24 homes nationwide have sold for $100 million or more, which is 20 years after the first $100 million home sale and more than the total number of nine-figure sales in the last decade combined.

In Florida, six homes near Palm Beach have sold for $100 million or more, including one home that sold in 2023 for $170 million. Chris Leavitt of Douglas Elliman in Palm Beach said, “People's wealth has grown so substantially and there's such limited product. There are more billionaires than there are oceanfront, sprawling estates.”

The number of megadeals nationwide has significantly increased, as the median sale price for luxury homes rose 75% to $1.14 million in 2023, according to Redfin. Between 2011 and 2020, 19 homes sold for $100 million or more, compared to 22 homes sold between 2021 and 2023 for $100 million or higher.

In 2022, Oracle's Larry Ellison purchased an oceanfront home near Palm Beach for $173 million, billionaire William Lauder bought a Palm Beach estate from Rush Limbaugh's estate for $155 million, and luxury car dealership owner Michael Cantanucci bought an oceanfront estate from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters founder Robert Stiller for $170 million.

Similarly, homes in Miami have sold for higher figures beginning in 2022 with the purchase of a mansion on Star Island for $75 million by Ken Griffin. He continued to buy up property, buying a Miami-based four-acre estate from philanthropist Adrienne Arsht for $106.875 million. The market has few trophy homes, but buyers like Griffin have purchased multiple properties in prime markets in recent years.

Griffin alone has spent more than $250 million assembling land to build a mansion in Palm Beach over the past few years. In 2023, Bezos paid a combined $147 million for adjacent properties in Miami's Indian Creek Village.

Source: Wall Street Journal (01/31/24) Solomont, E.B.

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