From ‘Succession’ to ‘The Crown,’ This Year’s Emmy-Nominated Shows Will Give You Serious House Envy

British royalty, billionaire media moguls and wealthy vacationers filled the screens of this year’s Emmy-nominated TV shows.

We may not covet the characters’ tangled, twisted relationships in “Succession,” which swept the nominations, or the backstabbing (and actual stabbing) in “Only Murders in the Building,” up for best comedy. But their lavish penthouses, castles and beach resorts could certainly stoke some house envy.

Here, Mansion Global highlights some of the real-life lavish homes that set the backdrop to some of this year’s fictional favourites.

“Succession” — 27 Nominations, Including Outstanding Drama Series

The open-plan great room is flooded with light from walls of windows.
BESPOKE REAL ESTATE

If “Succession,” the HBO series that’s high on drama and high-net-worth characters, exudes anything, it’s luxury—and that goes for its filming locations as much as anything else.

Take this uber-contemporary waterfront home in the Hamptons, the exclusive pocket of New York’s Long Island favored by wealthy New Yorkers, which is on the market for $55 million. The angular and glass-covered house was featured in Season 3 of the award-winning series, starring as the beachfront mansion owned by billionaire investor Josh Aaronson, played by Adrien Brody, and visited by Kendall and Logan Roy.

Built in 2018 in the hamlet of Wainscott, the property has a giant open-plan living, dining and kitchen space, where the home’s jaunty inverted roofline translates inside to an upside-down teak pyramid in the centre of room.

The custom kitchen occupies one end of the space with a statement marble backsplash—which made an appearance in the show. At the other end is a towering stone fireplace—you’ll spot that during the episode, too.

“The Crown” — Six Nominations, Including Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

An ornate bedroom inside Burghley House.
Getty Images/500px

Several U.K. estates were featured in “The Crown,” a Netflix original that garnered six Emmy nominations this year, including nods for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Elizabeth Debicki’s portrayal of Princess Diana. Burghley House—a 16th-century manse in Lincolnshire, England, about 130 miles north of London—is one of the largest surviving houses of the era, as well as an example of the great Elizabethan “prodigy” houses, built to honour Queen Elizabeth I. Indeed, it was her Lord High Treasurer, William Cecil, who helmed the project, built between 1555 and 1587.

The estate was featured in the most recent season of the show, but it’s no stranger to the screen, having also been seen in films like “Pride & Prejudice” (2005) and “The Flash” (2023), and even had a turn on “Antiques Roadshow.” The Cecil family put the home in a trust some years ago, and the property is now open to the public, who can tour its extensive gardens and art collection, and is still the site of the Burghley Horse Trials, set to begin this year on Aug. 31. “The Crown” has received 69 Emmy nominations since its first season in 2016, winning 21 times.

Burghley House is a 16th-century English country house near Stamford, Lincolnshire.
PA Images via Getty Images

“House of the Dragon” — Eight Nominations, Including Outstanding Drama Series

A real-life island castle off the coast of Cornwall, England, is used to set the scene in “House of the Dragon.”
Getty Images/imageBROKER RF

In “House of the Dragon,” HBO’s blockbuster prequel series to “Game of Thrones,” Driftmark is an island in Blackwater Bay and the ancestral seat of House Velaryon who rule from the castle High Tide.

Away from Westeros, the rugged and rocky outcropping, and the historic castle that stands on top of it, is St. Michael’s Mount, found in the sea off the coast of Marazion in Cornwall, in South West England.

The awe-inspiring spot is currently home to the St. Aubyn family, who have a 999-year lease to live in the castle and run the visitor business. And unsurprisingly, given its grandeur, the mount has been used as a filming location for the 1979 film “Dracula,” the 1983 James Bond film “Never Say Never Again,” the 2003 film “Johnny English,” and in the 2012 adventure movie “Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box.”

“The White Lotus” — 23 Nominations, Including Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series

The fictional resort this season was filmed at the real San Domenico Palace in Taormina, Sicily.
Courtesy of Four Seasons

Season 2 of HBO’s “The White Lotus” took both its cast and viewers to the scenic Sicilian town of Taormina. While the White Lotus—where the show’s affluent, eccentric guests are seen dining, lounging and creating chaos—is a fictional resort, the season was filmed at the real San Domenico Palace, which is a Four Seasons hotel.

Formerly a 14th-century convent, the historic building has been reimagined into a five-star resort offering a cliff top infinity pool, Italian gardens and Michelin-starred dining. Though, much of the monastery’s structure has been preserved, including the original frescoes. With views of the Ionian Sea, Mount Etna and the ancient Greek theatre Teatro Antico di Taormina, the hotel provides for an idyllic Italian getaway, with hopefully less theft and death than that of “The White Lotus.”

Much of the monastery’s structure has been preserved.
Peter Vitale/Courtesy of Four Seasons

“Beef” — 13 Nominations, Including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series

An extravagant mansion that happens to be one of Los Angeles’s most popular shooting locations made a cameo in the show’s fifth episode, when main characters Amy (played by Ali Wong) and her husband, George (Joseph Lee), book a luxury rental.

In their everyday life, the main characters of this revenge-filled black comedy live in a suitably dark house filled with concrete and dim lighting—a stark contrast to the sun-drenched vacation home lined in window walls overlooking the Santa Monica and San Gabriel mountains. In real life, the mansion is located in the San Fernando Valley and once belonged to Frank Sinatra. The characters and their daughter, June, lounge in the pool, with the airy, white Mid-Century Modern home in the backdrop. Besides “Beef,” Miley Cyrus made the striking home and cinematic views the backdrop of her latest album “Endless Summer Vacation,” which dropped earlier this year. The six-bedroom mansion, which was also featured in “Mad Men” and “Dreamgirls” (2006), went up for sale again in April for $16.5 million.

A Los Angeles home linked to both Frank Sinatra and Miley Cyrus has been re-listed for $16.5 million.
DPP REAL ESTATE

“Only Murders in the Building” — 11 Nominations, Including Outstanding Comedy Series

The Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short comic murder mystery “Only Murders in the Building” takes place almost entirely within the fictional Arconia and the surrounding Upper West Side neighbourhood. In reality, filming took place at the Belnord. Completed in 1908, the luxury residence occupies a full block at Broadway and West 86th Street.

The building has a starring role, showcasing apartments within its 213 units, as well as its famous inner courtyard (one of the largest in the city) and its facade. Originally designed by Hiss and Weekes in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, it was reimagined in 2018 by Robert A.M. Stern, who updated and opened up the apartments while preserving the public spaces. There are currently 13 active listings at the Belnord, listed by Douglas Elliman Development Marketing and priced up to $13.85 million for a four-bedroom on the 11th floor of the 13-story building.

A actual bedroom suite at the Belnord. Evan Joseph Photography

By any traditional measure, Australia’s property market should be moving in sync. Instead, it is fragmenting.

New research from MaxCap, led by Head of Research Bruce Wan, paints a picture of a market no longer defined by national trends, but by sharp regional divergence, where performance gaps between cities are widening, and the smartest capital is moving accordingly.

At the top end of the ladder, Perth and southeast Queensland are surging ahead. At the other, Melbourne and Auckland are only just beginning to recover from recent downturns. And sitting squarely in the middle is Sydney, steady but constrained.

The takeaway is clear: the era of relying on headline markets is over.

The rise of the unexpected leaders

Brisbane and the broader southeast Queensland region have emerged as standout performers, driven by population growth, infrastructure investment and a sustained undersupply of housing.

According to the report, housing values in the region have continued to accelerate, supported by long-term tailwinds including the 2032 Olympic Games and a decade of relatively subdued price growth prior.

Perth is telling a similar story, albeit for different reasons. Once heavily tied to commodity cycles, the Western Australian capital is now benefiting from a broader base of economic drivers, including defence spending and sustained resource sector strength.

The result is a housing market that remains one of the strongest in the country, even as price growth begins to ease from its peak.

Sydney holds, but doesn’t lead

For Sydney, the story is more nuanced.

While prices continue to climb and the city remains Australia’s most expensive market, affordability constraints are clearly limiting its pace. Residential growth, while positive, lags behind smaller capitals, and commercial sectors are being held back by softer demand in key industries.

There are, however, signs of momentum building. New infrastructure, including the western Sydney Airport and expanded rail networks, is expected to unlock development opportunities and support future growth, particularly in emerging precincts.

Still, the report positions Sydney firmly in the “middle of the pack”, no longer the automatic frontrunner for investors.

Melbourne’s slow reset

Melbourne, once a consistent performer, has spent recent years recalibrating.

Extended lockdowns, combined with new state property taxes, have weighed heavily on investor sentiment and pricing, particularly across the commercial office sector. Residential values have also underperformed, though for different structural reasons.

Now, there are early signs of recovery.

Improved affordability, population growth and a stabilising economic backdrop are beginning to draw buyers back into the market, with both residential and commercial sectors showing tentative signs of improvement.

Auckland’s turning point

Across the Tasman, Auckland has faced its own challenges, particularly from an outflow of younger workers to Australia, which has dampened demand and stalled price growth.

But here too, the tide appears to be shifting.

A return to positive migration, lower interest rates and policy changes — including the easing of foreign buyer restrictions — are expected to support a gradual recovery, alongside renewed interest from offshore capital.

A market that rewards precision

If there is one unifying theme, it is this: broad-brush strategies no longer work.

MaxCap’s research highlights that the most compelling opportunities are increasingly found outside the traditional powerhouses of Sydney and Melbourne, requiring investors to take a more targeted, locally informed approach.

“Given these persistent performance gaps, there is plentiful scope for alpha returns, just by picking the right locations and market segments,” the report notes.

In other words, success in this market is no longer about being in property — it is about being in the right property, in the right place, at the right time.

And increasingly, that place may not be where you expect.

From ‘Succession’ to ‘The Crown,’ This Year’s Emmy-Nominated Shows Will Give You Serious House Envy

New research shows a widening divide across Australia and New Zealand’s property markets, with investors increasingly forced to look beyond traditional strongholds to find real returns.