A study of the world’s 100 highest-priced real estate transactions from January–November 2022, revealed fascinating insights about the residential acquisitions and preferences of the world’s wealthiest individuals—including how and where they are choosing to live, work and play.
Forbes Global Properties, in a report titled, ‘Perspectives by Forbes Global Properties Annual Report 2023’, examines where the top trophy home sales are taking place and who are the buyers behind these acquisitions.
Of these top 100 sales, 58% were in major global cities, and just over a third were in prized jet-set vacation destinations. Prices at the apex of the property market are typically driven by the location, uniqueness, rarity, size, provenance, design, and quality of the residential offering, as well as by fundamental supply and demand conditions that determine what the market will bear.
Further analysis of the top 25 sales showed they ranged in price from US $72 million to $173 million and were clustered in 11 regions across the globe.
South Florida recorded the highest number of sales in this tranche in 2022, followed by Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
The aggregate value of the top 25 deals exceeded US $2.57 billion and involved at least six members of the Forbes 400 list or their estates according to public reports. Except for a US $120 million property purchase by Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel (#380 on the Forbes 400, approximately 4.3% of his estimated US $2.8 billion net worth), Forbes 400 members who were involved with 2022’s top residential deals spent no more than 1% of their net worth on these trophy home sales.
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Despite recessionary fears, geopolitical volatility, and a financial market slowdown, the world’s wealthiest continued to seek out trophy homes, and a significant number of residential sales records were shattered across the globe in 2022. The ultrahigh end of the residential market established new price benchmarks in 2022 as the world’s wealthiest individuals continued to seek out trophy property acquisitions as a safe and secure vehicle for building, maintaining, growing, and enjoying wealth.