Billionaire Larry Ellison’s $173 million Palm Beach estate topped the list last year, along with a $100 million Malibu dream house bought by media mogul Byron Allen and a $75 million Beverly Hills mega-mansion owned by rap superstar Drake.
The luxury real market in America saw many record-breaking sales in 2022, including several north of $100 million. Among the billionaires undeterred by the economy last year was Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison who, after just missing 2021’s most expensive home sales list, topped the list in 2022 with the purchase of Netscape cofounder Jim Clark’s 16-acre compound in Manalapan, Florida for $173 million. Another trophy home collector, billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin also added a new property to his collection last year with the purchase of a $107 million home in Miami. And rap superstar Drake is the sole entertainer on the list after buying a 20-acre estate in Beverly Hills.
On the global front, residential property sales slumped, but not everywhere. Numerous cities, regions and second-home destinations—including Arizona and Massachusetts as well as Dubai and Melbourne— notched record prices in 2022. Also, the strong dollar spurred some Americans to buy property in big European cities such as London, Paris and Lisbon.
Here are the most expensive and notable luxury homes sold in the U.S. in 2022 for which public records or reports are currently available.
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$75 Million
Los Angeles, California
After shopping around for a new home in Los Angeles for months, Drake landed in the Beverly Hills area with a 20-acre estate, a size and scale unheard of in 90732. The 36-year-old artist bought the $75 million property in Benedict Canyon from English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams in March, four months before selling his Hidden Hills compound, affectionately known as “Yolo Estate,” for $12 million. Designed by L.A. architectural firm KAA Design Group, Drake’s new 20,000-square-foot mansion has 22 bathrooms, an 11-car garage and a wine cellar. The sprawling grounds also feature a mosaic-tiled pool, a tennis court and orchard.
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$75.9 Million
New York, New York
Located in Manhattan’s Crown Building—home of the new Aman New York—the 6,791-square-foot residence known as the Jala Penthouse was purchased last July for $75.9 million. (The buyer was anonymous and identified only as Albatross Apartment LLC.) Spanning the entire 20th floor, the penthouse features four bedrooms and more than 3,700 square feet of outdoor landscaped terrace spaces replete with a pool and spa. The buyer was anonymous and identified only as Albatross Apartment LLC. The first home to the Museum of Modern Art, the Crown Building was converted into a luxury hotel on its lower floors, with 22 condos on the 15th to 26th floors.
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$84.5 Million
East Hampton, New York
Billionaire financier Ronald Perelman sold one of his two East Hampton estates for $85.4 million amid an annus horribilus that saw Revlon’s largest shareholder declare bankruptcy for the cosmetics company in June. After being on and off the market since the summer of 2021, the beachfront property was sold to an anonymous buyer last January. The 11,435-square-foot estate sits on more than 9 acres off tony Lily Pond Lane. In addition to the sale, Perelman has also reportedly listed his Manhattan Upper Eastside townhouse for $115 million while rumors of his other historic Hamptons retreat, the Creeks, being for sale continued to circulate.
$86 Million
Palm Beach, Florida
Less than 10 months after selling for $64 million, an oceanfront property just north of the Palm Beach Country Club once again traded hands, this time for $86 million. The Bermuda-style estate first made headlines during its development phase after initial designs were deemed oversized for the 1.14-acre lot. In the end, the home was scaled back and completed by real estate investor and spec home developer Clark Beaty, who sold the property to Beechgreen LLC which then sold it to an undisclosed buyer last June. The estate encompasses about 18,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor living space and includes a wine cellar, gym and guest house.
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$91 Million
Malibu, California
Closing in the last weeks of 2022, the $92 million sale of a 6.6-acre Malibu estate is the latest in a string of massive transactions to take place in Paradise Cove, including venture capitalist Marc Andreessen’s $177 million compound which topped the list in 2021. Originally listed for $125 million by sellers Jon Burton, a video game designer, and his ex-wife, Helen Musk, the couple purchased the property a decade before for $36.5 million from computer pioneer, Max Palevsky. Built in 1975, the Mediterranean estate offers private access to the beach, manicured gardens, a resort-like swimming pool and north/south lighted tennis court.
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$92.8 Million
Golden Beach, Florida
Billionaire Phillip “Terry” Ragon, founder of technology company InterSystems, purchased three homes on Ocean Boulevard just north of Miami in a single transaction for a reported $92.8 million last June. The complex acquisition required negotiations with three sellers, including fashion photographer Bruce Weber and his wife, Nan Bush. The most expensive of the three properties, a six-bedroom, six-bathroom Spanish-style mansion built in 1936, sold for $45 million. Combined, the three properties total roughly 1.7 acres with about 275 feet of ocean frontage. Ragon also purchased a separate property in the area in 2021 for just under $20 million. According to the Wall Street Journal, Ragon intends to raze the beach houses and replace them with one home.
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$100 Million
Malibu, California
In October, Public Storage executive and billionaire Tamara Gustavson sold her oceanside Malibu estate to media mogul Byron Allen for a $100 million. The 11,000-square-foot compound was formerly owned by B. Wayne Hughes, Gustavson’s late father, who co-founded Public Storage in 1972. Allen, the founder and CEO of Entertainment Studios, has quietly built an impressive real estate portfolio over the past few years that includes two side-by-side properties he purchased for $32 million eight months earlier. Set in the billionaire hive of Paradise Cove, Allen’s new neighbors include WhatsApp cofounder Jan Koum, who owns an adjacent $187 million compound.
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$101 Million
New York, New York
Before his death in 2018, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen had accumulated a wealth of real estate around the country, including two Manhattan co-ops that sold in July for a combined $101 million. Purchased by an anonymous buyer, Allen’s Upper East Side penthouse was sold with the full-floor unit directly below it. He reportedly obtained the penthouse in 2011 for $25 million and the 11th-floor unit nine years earlier for $13.5 million.
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$106.9 Million
Miami, Florida
Hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin purchased a waterfront estate in Coconut Grove for $106.9 million last September, the first Miami home to eclipse nine figures. The seller, philanthropist Adrienne Arsht, the former head of TotalBank. Arsht built one of the two homes on the 4-acre estate. The second home, the Mediterranean style Villa Serena, was built in 1913 for former Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan. (It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.) Arsht purchased Villa Serena at the tail end of the 2000s for $12 million before completely restoring it. The property is one of many homes recently purchased by Griffin, who has reportedly spent more than $350 million assembling residential land in Palm Beach, where his hedge fund operation, Citadel, is opening an office.
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$120 Million
Los Angeles, California
In August, after more than a year of negotiations, UK real estate billionaire Ian Livingstone, sold his four-acre Holmby Hills estate to Snapchat CEO and cofounder Evan Spiegel. The villa-style home has parking for 20-plus cars, a formal dining room that seats 18, and a two-story library, a movie theater, a beauty salon and a pool. In addition to the main property, Spiegel also acquired a smaller parcel of land next door the year before for $25 million, making for an estate totaling $145 million. Located directly across the street from the former Playboy Mansion, the parcels were purchased by Livingstone in 2014 and 2017 for a combined $72 million.
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$126 Million
Beverly Hills, California
The Bel-Air mega-mansion known as The One finally got its big moment last year—but not as big as it could have been. The most heavily covered real estate deal of the year saw the home’s $295 million price tag plunge to $126 million at auction. Designed by architect Paul McClean, the hilltop home sold at auction to Fashion Nova founder Richard Saghian in March. At 105,000 square feet, the One is the largest residence in Los Angeles County. Amenities include a moat, a 4,000-square-foot guesthouse, a multiplex-size movie theater, multiple pools, a bowling alley and a spa. After almost a decade in development hell, the home remains unfinished and holds more than $250 million in claimed debts, according to reports, meaning many creditors faced significant—if not total—losses on the property. The One’s developer, Nile Niami, originally envisioned lavish amenties like a “jellyfish room” (with tanks of live sea creatures) and a bar made from a block of ice, neither of which were built. However there are multiple swimming pools, a 30-car garage, a movie theater, 21 bedrooms and 42 bathrooms.
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$173 Million
Manalapan, Florida
Netscape cofounder Jim Clark parted with a dual-waterfront compound last June for $173 million, setting a record for Florida home sales. The more than 30-bedroom compound purchased by Larry Ellison encompasses roughly 16 acres along the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Worth shorelines. The sale completely shattered the previous Florida record, which was set by Tiger Global Management cofounder Scott Shleifer when he purchased a Palm Beach mansion for $122.7 million in 2021. Previously owned by the Ziff Family, the Manalapan property was bought by Clark in March 2021 for $94 million. In addition to a 12-bedroom main house, the compound also features two beachside cottages, a seven-bedroom guesthouse and a furnished tunnel underneath South Ocean Boulevard for uninterrupted access to the water.
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