America's Largest Luxury Home Sales of 2011
December 27, 2011
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Overall, the U.S. housing market may have failed to dazzle in 2011, but this year did mark a new record in luxury real estate. In February, a 25,500-square-foot mansion in Los Altos Hills, Calif., sold for $100 million, the biggest known sale of a single-family home in the U.S. (many large transactions are not publicized). The seller, Fred Chan, who founded ESS Technology in Fremont, Calif., helped finance the deal by extending a $50 million loan to the buyer, Yuri Milner, the Russian-born founder of Digital Sky Technologies.
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This was also the year Candy Spelling sold her 14-bedroom mansion—on the market since 2008 for $150 million—at a discounted price of $85 million to Petra Ecclestone, the 22-year-old daughter of Formula One billionaire Bernie Ecclestone. “Prices have come down [over the past few years], so it’s an opportune time to buy,” says Philip A. White, president and chief operating officer of Sotheby’s International Realty.
To build a list of the most expensive homes sold in 2011, Businessweek.com asked Realogy (the parent company of such brands as Sotheby’s International Realty, Coldwell Banker, Corcoran, Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate, Century 21, and ERA), Christie’s International Real Estate, and Brown Harris Stevens for their biggest sales this year. We also collected sales data from real estate websites Trulia.com, Zillow.com, and StreetEasy.com, as well as from such real estate agents as David Kean at the John Aaroe Group in Beverly Hills, Calif., and Terry Baxendale at Shore & Country Properties near Greenwich, Conn.
Here's America's 10 most expensive luxury home sales of 2011:
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| No. 10 - The $36.5 million Harkness Mansion in New York City. Photo: William Halsey/Bloomberg Businessweek |
This five-story limestone mansion, previously acquired by billionaire investor J. Christopher Flowers for $53.6 million in 2006, sold in August to art dealer Larry Gagosian, reported the New York Observer. The massive Upper East Side townhouse is 50 feet wide and measures 21,700 sq. ft.
No. 9 - Field Point Park waterfront mansion
84 Field Point Circle, Greenwich, CT
Sale price: $39,500,000
84 Field Point Circle, Greenwich, CT
Sale price: $39,500,000
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| No. 9 - The $39.5 million Field Point Park waterfront mansion in Greenwich, CT. Photo: Sotheby's International Realty |
This waterfront estate, on 4.26 acres, has a 20,777-sq.-ft. main house of stone, two guesthouses, terraces with a waterfall and koi ponds, outdoor and indoor pools, and a historic suspension bridge to the pier, according to listing details.
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| No. 8 - The $40 million, La Belle Vie in Los Angeles. Photo: Google Maps |
Listed at $53 million since 2009, this Bel Air mansion reportedly sold in April to Gene Sykes, a managing director at Goldman Sachs. The house was built for philanthropist Iris Cantor by her husband, Bernard Gerald Cantor, in 1993, according to the Los Angeles Times. Iris Cantor had tried to quietly sell the property for $60 million, Forbes.com reported in 2000. Listing information on Zillow.com shows that the property has eight bedrooms, 21 baths, three kitchens, 12 fireplaces, a staff wing, pool, tennis court, billiard room, gym, and beauty salon.
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| No. 7 - The $42.9 million Porcupine Creek in Rancho Mirage, CA. Photo: Christie’s International Real Estate |
Covering 249 acres, the Porcupine Creek golf course estate has a 18,430-sq.-ft. main residence, four 1,860-sq.-ft. guesthouses, and four 600-sq.-ft. casitas, reported palmspringslife.com. The property was built by real estate developer Tim Blixseth and Edra Blixseth (who divorced in 2008) and was listed at $75 million after Edra Blixseth filed for bankruptcy. Oracle’s (ORCL) co-founder and chief executive, Larry Ellison, reportedly bought the estate in late January 2011.
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| No. 5 - The $48 million Vanderbilt Mansion in New York City. Photo: William Halsey/Bloomberg Businessweek |
This townhouse, in the Lenox Hill section of Manhattan, was built in 1881 and was once owned by Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt. It sold in July to Johnson & Johnson heiress Libet Johnson, reported the New York Post. The sellers, Roger Barnett, founder of beauty.com, and author Sloan Lindermann Barnett, bought the home in 2001 for $11 million. The mansion is tied with a $48 million condo in the Plaza for fifth place.
No. 5 (tie) - The Plaza, condo unit
768 Fifth Avenue, #1207 and #1209, New York, N.Y.
Sale price: $48,000,000
768 Fifth Avenue, #1207 and #1209, New York, N.Y.
Sale price: $48,000,000
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| No. 5 - The $48 million Plaza Condo unit in New York City. Photo: Emile-Wamsteker/Bloomberg |
The Russian composer Igor Krutoy and his wife, Olga, bought this 6,000-sq.-ft. condo in March. Howard Lorber, chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate, said this was a record price for a single condo sold in New York City, according to Bloomberg News. The apartment is tied with the $48 million Vanderbilt mansion for fifth place.
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| No. 4 - Pine Brook, a $53 million home in Atherton, CA. Photo: Google Maps |
This 12-acre estate, originally listed at $59.5 million, sold in September for $53 million. The property has an 11,000-sq.-ft. English Tudor-style house as well as a 6,500-sq.-ft. guesthouse, according to listing details. It was sold by the children of San Francisco philanthropist and arts patron Madeleine Haas Russell, who died in 1999, to an anonymous buyer, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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| No. 3 - Spelling Manor, at $85 million, in Los Angeles. Photo: Christie’s International Real Estate |
The Spelling Manor, for sale since 2008, sold in July 2011 at 56.7 percent of the original listing price of $150 million. The Wall Street Journal reported that the buyer was Petra Ecclestone, the 22-year-old daughter of British billionaire Bernie Ecclestone, who is chief executive of the Formula One Administration. The three-story, 56,500-sq.-ft. home sits on 4.7 acres.
No. 2 - 15 Central Park West, penthouse
15 Central Park West, Penthouse, New York, N.Y.
Sale price: $88 million
15 Central Park West, Penthouse, New York, N.Y.
Sale price: $88 million
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| No. 2 - The $88 million apartment at 15 Central Park West, New York City. Photo: JB Reed/Bloomberg |
Former Citigroup chairman Sandy Weill just listed this 10-room condo at the Robert A.M. Stern-designed 15 Central Park West in November for $88 million, promising to give the proceeds to charity. Forbes.com reported on Dec. 19 that Ekaterina Rybolovleva, the 22-year-old daughter of Russian billionaire Dmitriy Rybolovlev, bought the unit at the full price. This would be a new record price for homes sold in New York City. Other notable residents have included Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, hedgefunder Daniel Lobe and rock star Sting.
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| No. 1 - The $100 million Los Altos Hills mansion. Photo: Paul Sakuma/AP Photo |
At $100 million, the top transaction this year set a new high for known sales of single-family homes. This 25,500-sq.-ft. mansion in the Los Altos Hills has five bedrooms and nine bathrooms, according to listing data. Russian tech billionaire Yuri Milner, founder of Digital Sky Technologies, bought the property in February from Fred Chan, founder of ESS Technology in Fremont, Calif., and his wife Annie, reported the Wall Street Journal. The sellers lent Milner $50 million to help finance the sale.
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