Global Super-Luxury Sales Surged in the First Half of 2021

Super-luxury property markets globally have proven to be resilient amid the coronavirus pandemic and economic slowdown.

The number of super-prime home sales—defined as those priced above US$10 million—reached 785 in the first six months of 2021 across seven major cities, according to a Knight Frank report released Thursday. That is more than double the figure in the same period of 2020, and up 52% from the same time in 2019—a more comparable year.

Among the seven major cities analyzed, New York led with 202 sales above $10 million, which had an aggregate value of $785 billion, in the first half of the year. The number of sales was nearly four times the figure during the same time 2020, which was skewed by the impact of Covid-19. However, compared to the same period of 2019, this year’s sales were still up 36%, according to the report.

“Vaccine rollouts have aided the reopening of some of the world’s major cities—giving confidence to wealthy residents to commit to property moves in prime central locations,” Liam Bailey, global head of research at Knight Frank, said in the report.

Los Angeles logged 171 sales at the very top $10 million-plus market in the first half of the year, nearly three times the number over the same period both in 2020 and in 2019, according to the report.

Of the other five cities included in the analysis—Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, London and Dubai—only Hong Kong-registered fewer super-prime sales between January and the end of June r than the same six-month stretch in 2019, but transactions were still 61% higher than the same period in 2020, according to the report.

While each of these super-prime markets has its unique driving force, such as recent price corrections, lifestyle advantages or the surge in new development. But they all shared some common themes, “namely, rapidly improving sentiment amid the reopening of cities and a unified shift in lifestyles as the wealthy seek out larger homes and more amenity rich locations,” Paddy Dring, global head of prime sales at Knight Frank, said in the report.

A 110-year-old Colorado estate that has hosted Frank Sinatra and Lyndon B. Johnson just slashed $10 million off its price tag.

The 12,000-square-foot manor house—with 25 rooms—and its five accessory dwelling in the alpines of Evergreen was relisted on Friday asking $16.8 million, down from its initial $26.8 million price in 2023.

The sellers, Richard and Pamela Bard, who paid $1.3 million for the “legacy property” named Greystone Estate in 1992, have shopped it around on and off for the past 20 years, according to agent Jessica Northrop at Compass Real Estate.

Richard Bard, CEO of his own private equity firm, has “hosted many corporate events and retreats where important business is discussed but they are also able to relax,” Northrop said. “Greystone has a special way of making people feel at ease.”

Bard said “it’s not a casual effort” to sell. He said it’s difficult to find a buyer with the facilities to “take care of it.”

The Bards intend to move closer to their children in Denver.

Before the Bards, Greystone Estate had several eras—as a summer house, a guest ranch and a business base—since it was built in 1915 by Genevieve Phipps, an industrialist’s daughter.

Phipps, who spent her inheritance on the land, built the 54-acre summer escape with the “elegance and feel of a fine Adirondack mansion combined with a mountain rustic style,” according to an online record of the estate’s history.

Its heyday, arguably in the 1940s to 1980s, saw Sinatra, Johnson and Groucho Marx come through its doors, when its owner William Sandifer, a socialite and one the Empire State Building’s architects, operated a guest ranch out of the place.

The Bards, who used a carriage house on the property as their company headquarters, completed Greystone’s full modernization in 1997. They also opened up the living and dining areas to receive more light, raised the ceiling on the upper level and combined several rooms to create a primary suite.

They replaced an outdoor pavilion and its helipad with something more suitable for their daughter’s wedding in 2001, according to Northrop.

The main 25-room manor includes a wine cellar, bar, gym and library.

The additional structures, which include a cottage, a log cabin, a pool house, a carriage house and a pavilion and guest house, surround the pool area and overlook acres of aspen groves and mountains.

Global Super-Luxury Sales Surged in the First Half of 2021

New York led with 202 sales above US$10 million, compared to 52 in the same period last year.

The 25-room mansion was built for an heiress and later belonged to a socialite and architect on the Empire State Building.