World’s most expensive homes in the market

Bloomberg

Even in the pre-crash era, when real estate prices were surging, nine-figure deals for properties seemed outlandish. Then beginning in 2015, with ultra-luxury sales on the decline and homes in the seven and eight figures languishing on the market for twice as long as the year before, as well as undergoing price cuts, their existence seemed futile.
Yet, today there are 23 homes on the market priced over $100 million. “It used to be that nothing was in this $100 million price range, and now we have more than a dozen properties across the country,” says Suzanne Perkins, a Santa Barbara County, California-based real estate agent who is handling several properties above the $100 million mark.
Just before new year 2015, a condo at New York’s One57 sold for a reported $100.5 million. Later, a single-family home in Hong Kong’s The Peak neighborhood sold for HK$1.5 billion ($194 million), allegedly to Alibaba’s Jack Ma. This year another home in that same neighborhood sold for HK$830 million. And let’s not forget the Playboy Mansion, which had a $200 million price tag and has now been sold, according to numerous reports.
There are at least nine more properties—including massive undeveloped residential lots and private islands—asking $100 million or more on the market than last year’s 19, according to Christie’s, which scoured public listings and media reports, and probed insider contacts to develop an internal list, which it shared with Bloomberg.
But don’t call it a glut. Call it the price of doing $100 million dollar business. According to Dan Conn, CEO of Christie’s International Real Estate, homes in this price range tend to stay on the market for three to five years. Over the last handful of years, including 2015, he says, the peak number sold was five; three have sold this year. “This feels like a reasonably healthy year,” he says.
The long life of such listings comes in part from the size of the buyer (and seller) pool, or rather, lack of size. “It’s a really limited universe of buyers and sellers and properties,” says Conn.
Of the world’s richest 200 people, many already have several spectacular, high-priced homes. “Not every year
will a top hedge fund manager buy a $100 million home. They can stay
on the market for a really long time
because you don’t have a seller that has to sell, and you don’t have a buyer that has to buy.”
Buyers are more likely looking for a place to park their cash than make an investment that they hope will balloon in worth, so they’ll wait until the right home presents itself. In other words, the ultra-rich may not actually want a sprawling beachfront mansion in Florida for $195 million or a $300 million chateau outside Paris. And since sellers aren’t usually in a big hurry—fire sales are uncommon in this world, since sellers usually spread their assets around—they aren’t always willing to accommodate negotiations.
“If they get their number they’re happy to go,” says Aaron Kirman, president of Aaroe Estates, whose clientele includes many Middle Eastern royal families. “If they don’t, they love their home, they’re happy to stay.”
“It needs to be irreplaceable and very hard to find,” says Kirman of what lets homes command such high prices.
“It starts with site: the view, the grounds, the privacy, and usually it’s a combo of all of the above. At that price point, it better have it all.” Architectural or historical significance also drive up the price.