This year, just 29 properties sold for at least $50 million, according to a list compiled by Jonathan Miller, the president and chief executive officer of appraiser Miller Samuel.
That's down more than 35% from last year, when 45 properties in that tier closed, and it's down more than 44% from 2021, whose 52 sales made it the best year for ultraluxury real estate on record, according to data provided by Miller.
"In 2021 and 2022, the outlook was optimistic," Miller says in an interview, citing low interest rates and a resurgent stock market. "That was not the case over the last 18 months and frankly, I'm surprised that there were this many transactions at all."
Even as the number of sales dropped, the average value of ultraluxury sales has actually risen: The decrease from last year ($3.2 billion) to this year ($2.3 billion) is 28%, slightly better than the decline in volume.
"This isn't a normal housing market," Miller says, emphasizing how the spending habits of the super rich are divorced from the rest of the country. "It has nothing to do with the local markets these properties sit within. It's more national and global in scale."
Miller cautions that this list, which he compiles annually, is subject to change before the year ends; late-to-the-game closings can pop up.
As it stands, he says, for all the lingering anxiety about the ultrarich leaving New York, the city and its environs continues to dominate the $50 million-plus list, with 14 property sales notched this year. (Some might include the Connecticut suburbs' two entries.)
Florida had eight, California had three, and Colorado came in a distant fourth, with two. For Miller's top 10 sales of 2023, see below.
1001 Ute Avenue, Aspen, Colorado — $76 million
The backstory: This 21,500-square-foot home, which sits on just a half-acre lot, is not without controversy. Following allegations that its developer "ran afoul" of building approvals in 2019, the seven-bed, seven-bath, six half-bath house, which has ski-in access from Aspen Mountain, was more recently the subject of a lawsuit. A broker says she was "squeezed" out of a seven-figure commission for the sale, according to reporting by the Aspen Daily News.
12 Indian Creek Island Road, Miami — $79 million
The backstory: Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that this seven-bedroom home had been purchased by Jeff Bezos. The billionaire founder of Amazon.com Inc. got a 7% discount, apparently; the house, set on a man-made island in the Miami area, had most recently listed for $85 million. A few months earlier, Bezos had bought the house next door for $68 million.
220 Central Park South, New York — $80 million
The backstory: Set on the eighth and ninth floors of the skyscraper's "villa" portion—a smaller structure that stands in front of its supertall tower—residents of this roughly 8,000-square-foot duplex will also have about 1,000 square feet of outdoor space. A huge, 56 foot-long living room runs the width of one floor, according to an offering plan.
