By James Tarmy | Bloomberg
Amid dramatic negative changes in the US housing market, the spending habits of the very wealthy have remained remarkably consistent.
The top 10 most expensive home sales this year, like last year, were spread across New York and the Hamptons, Los Angeles and South Florida, according to a list compiled by Jonathan Miller, the president and chief executive officer of appraiser Miller Samuel.
“The footprint of these transactions appears to be firmly established,” said Miller, who notes that his list is preliminary given that late sales and updates are the norm. “It’s all the big three locations.” The only change, he says, is that top sales are starting to seep into all of South Florida, where they were in Palm Beach and Miami in previous years. “We have top sales in Manalapan, we have Coconut Grove and we have Coral Gables,” he says.
The top 10 list includes four homes in the Los Angeles area; three in the New York metropolitan area; and three in South Florida.
Second best year on record
All in all, according to Miller, 2022 was the second-highest year for real estate sales at $50 million and above in history. (The best year ever was 2021.) This year, six properties sold for $100 million or more, up from 10 last year, according to Miller’s data. And 33 properties — at least as of Dec. 15, when he collected the data — were selling for $50 million or more, compared to 49 in 2021. Last year’s top 10 totaled $1.4 billion. This year’s total is a respectable $1.1 billion, roughly on par with 2019.
Miller chose not to include farms on the list, which yielded a few results, including the $170 million sale of the late T. Boone Pickens’ farm. That decision was made, Miller explains, because many farms are part commercial operations, often with dozens of separate houses and outbuildings. “It seems like a different product to me,” he says. “The land is so much more of the property value than a single family home.”
There was one change from last year: homes at the peak of the market seem to be getting smaller. “The median square footage this year is 15,819 square feet; last year it was 24,015 square feet,” says Miller, down 34%. “They’re getting tight. Times are tough.”
Here are the top 10 US home sales of 2022:
10) 9475 Rides End Rd. and 9501 Journeys End Lane in Coral Gables, Florida — $78 million
What does that mean: Two adjoining mansions — one sold for $34 million, the other for $44 million just days apart — were reportedly bought by the parents of Amazon Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, though Miller notes that they were purchased by separate LLCs and the Bezos family involvement has not been confirmed. The less expensive house (“cheap” is a relative term here) has just under 13,000 square feet and six bedrooms. According to ownership records of the more expensive home, it contains five bedrooms and five bathrooms in just over 11,000 square feet.
9) 9904 Kip Dr in Beverly Hills, California — $75 million
What that brings: Reportedly sold by the singer Robbie Williams and bought by the rapper Drake, the property is a 20-acre lot with a seven-bed, 13-bathroom main house, according to a previous listing. The home has over 20,000 square feet, according to the listing.
8) Jala Penthouse at 730 Fifth Ave. in Midtown New York — $75.9 million
What that entails: To the uninitiated, the word “penthouse” would imply that this apartment is at the top of the building. For years, the designation (at least when used as a sales tool) has become more vague and basically means ‘somewhere at the top’. While it’s not the tallest apartment in Aman New York’s new building on 57th Street, it’s certainly the fanciest, with over 6,700 square feet and two terraces overlooking Central Park.
7) 153 Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton, New York — $84.5 million
What that means: The 20-acre oceanfront property was sold by financier Ron Perelman, who has liquidated much of his vast hoard of homes, boats, art, and collectibles over the past two years. This property has 385 feet of prime ocean frontage and a main house that spans over 11,000 square feet. It was first listed for $115 million.
6) 27628 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California — $100 million
What that means: The approximately 3.5-acre cliffside estate was reportedly sold by self-storage billionaire Tammy Hughes Gustavson to Allen Media founder Byron Allen. It is approximately 11,000 square feet in total, with a four-bedroom main house and two guest cottages. In something unusual for the hilly area, a trail along the cliffs from the house to the beach can apparently be navigated by golf cart.
5) 4 East 66th St. in New York City – $101 million
What that means: Put together by Paul Allen, the late billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, the property is actually two apartments he acquired over time. The sale was made off-market, so very little is known about the property, except that it consists of the top two units of a co-op building overlooking Central Park, and is said to have been purchased by Julia Koch, widow of the late ultra-conservative mega-donor David Koch.
4) 3031 and 3115 Brickell Avenue in Coconut Grove, Florida — $106.9 million
What does that mean: When philanthropist Adrienne Arsht sold her four-acre estate on Biscayne Bay for a Miami-Dade County record, it was reported that the buyer was none other than Ken Griffin, the founder of Citadel and a major booster in South America. Florida. There are two houses on the property, one built in 1913 and the other built by Arsht in the late 1990s. Together, they reportedly have 12 bedrooms spread over 25,000 square feet.
3) 10231 Charing Cross Rd. in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles – $119.9 million
What that means: The third-highest sale on Miller’s list is the one he says he knows the least about. It’s set on 3.5 acres — that much is more or less certain — but Miller says there’s no ownership record for the sale. He took his information from a report on Realtor.com, which said sales closed on July 22 for a four-bedroom home measuring more than 11,600 square feet. “We can’t find the ownership records, but there are indications that it was closed for this amount,” he says.
2) 944 Airole Way in Bel Air, Los Angeles — $141 million
The result: the second-highest sales of the year was nevertheless a major disappointment, at least for the original developer. Before the 21-bedroom, 49-bathroom estate hit the market, the developer announced he would ask for $500 million for the property, which he dubbed “the One”; when it hit the market, its list price was $295 million. The property was sold unfinished at auction after the developer’s company declared bankruptcy.
1) 2000 South Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan, Florida – $173 million
What it does: Netscape co-founder Jim Clark reportedly sold the 16-acre site to Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, setting a record in Florida. (Needless to say, both are billionaires.) The compound spans the width of the island—Manalapan is about a 20-minute drive south of Palm Beach—and includes a 62,000-square-foot, 12-bedroom main house, along with multiple guest and staff cottages.
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