The ULTIMATE ADDRESS

Breaking down ultra-luxury real estate trends and the world's most compelling new listings

-  SI SI PENALOZA

Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s Tadao Ando–designed mansion is about to get smoked. On setting records that is. Casa Encantada, a 40,000-sq.-ft. Los Angeles estate, has twice become the most expensive home sold in the US; first in 1980, and here we are again. With a $250 million asking price, it would surpass the state record set by the Carters’crib—which claimed the distinction for most expensive home in California history just this past spring—as well as the national record, currently held by hedge fund kingpin Ken Griffin. Built in the 1930s on 8.5 prime Bel-Air acres, Casa Encantada rises like a reverie right out of Brad Pitt’s fever dream in Babylon. How fitting Peter Marino, the “leather daddy of luxury”, was tasked with elevating the interiors. Indeed, this is as old money as it gets on the left coast—a portrait of George Washington in the home’s study was originally commissioned by Benjamin Franklin himself.

As we close out 2023, increasing mortgage rates have triggered a dip in house prices, and UHNW (Ultra-High-Net-Worth) enclaves were not immune. According to Robb Report, in 2022, the priciest property in the world was a $532 million villa in Rome; this year, it’s a $250 million triplex penthouse atop the luxury skyscraper Central Park Tower on Billionaires’ Row. The price drops stateside are modest—the wealthy are still driven to acquire or expand sprawling legacy estates in the aftermath of the pandemic. This savvy and shrewd cohort has long played real estate as the best-hedged bet against rising inflation. With the global surge of wealth creation in recent years, the 1% is doubling down on real estate assets. As many luxury purchases are made in cash, the high-end sector remains somewhat insulated from interest-rate fluctuations.