One Luxury Home Sets Sales Record, While Another Languishes on Market

One Luxury Home Sets Sales Record, While Another Languishes on Market

For those with an eye on the luxury market, there have been two deals in the headlines that are noteworthy.

First, there is the home at 924 Bel Air Road in Los Angeles. When it was listed for $250 million in late 2017, it was the most expensive home on the market in the country.

The home, listed by Nest Seekers International, boasts 38,000 square feet of indoor living space as well as 17,000 square feet of seamless entertainment decks, and a helicopter pad. There are two master suites, 10 oversized guest suites, 21 luxury bathrooms, three gourmet kitchens, five bars, a massage studio/wellness spa, state-of-the-art fitness center, 85-foot glass tile infinity swimming pool, 40-seat theater, four-lane bowling alley/lounge, sprawling auto gallery, two fully stocked champagne/wine cellars and the most advanced home technology system in the country.

But the home hasn’t sold. Owner and developer Bruce Makowsky, responsible for bringing to life some of the most stunning homes in the country, has cited “recent global market conditions,” and reduced the price by $100 million.

“Today’s billionaire and mega wealthy homebuyer just isn’t ready to spend $200 million on a home at this current place in time so we’ve relisted it with a price tag that will open the door to a significantly larger audience,” continued Makowsky, adding that “ultra-wealthy buyers have not yet become accustomed to spending $200 million on a home.”

There’s one person who may differ on that point.

Billionaire Ken Griffin, founder of hedge fund Citadel, just paid $238 million for a penthouse condominium overlooking Manhattan’s Central Park, a deal that sets a record for a U.S. home sale.

The unit is in a 79-story residential tower, developed by Vornado Realty Trust, is under construction for an estimated $1.4 billion at 220 Central Park South.

The price paid for the New York condo eclipses the prior record for a U.S. residential purchase, set by another hedge fund billionaire, Barry Rosenstein, for a home in East Hampton on New York’s Long Island that he purchased for $137 million in 2014.