Demand for homes with $10M-plus price tag was up in 2004

The Mortgage-Pro · Site Admin Joined: 19 Jan 2005 Posts: 2248

USA Today reports that the number of homes selling for $10 million or more increased to 28 in 2004, up from 18 in that price range in 2003. And there are still a number of expensive homes on the market, according to the report.

The most expensive is the $75 million home in the Hamptons, the vacation area on eastern Long Island preferred by New York City's elite. It sits on 60 acres with 14 gardens and three ponds, in addition to the 18-hole golf course.

Also on the market is a $65 million, 11,000-square-foot home on Belvedere Island, with sweeping views of San Francisco Bay. The unidentified sellers want to spend more time in their other nine homes, according to the newspaper.

Many of the high-end prices are in traditionally high-end markets such as New York, San Francisco and Palm Beach, Fla.

The newspaper reports a number of sales giving the high-end market a good start to 2005. Drug wholesaler Steward Rahr just paid $45 million for a 20,000-square-foot home on 25 acres in East Hampton. He told the newspaper he didn't know exactly how many bedrooms his new home has -- he thinks there are 10.

That amount would just edge the $44 million offer made last year by media mogul Rupert Murdoch for a Fifth Avenue penthouse once owned by the late Laurance Rockefeller. That deal was announced in December, but it has yet to close.

Financing won't be the problem -- mortgages aren't allowed in the building. The purchase is believed to be the most expensive home sale in Manhattan, according to the New York Times.