Gucci Heiress’s California Desert Home Hits the Rental Market for $28,000 a Month
The granddaughter of Guccio Gucci has owned the Palm Desert home for more than 30 years.
2 min
A Southern California desert compound built by a Gucci heiress is now available to rent for $28,000 a month.
Located in Palm Desert, about 25 miles south of Palm Springs, the home was bought and renovated in the 1990s by Patricia Gucci, the only daughter of Aldo Gucci and granddaughter of Guccio Gucci, who founded the luxury Italian fashion house, according to The Wall Street Journal . It has been on and off both the sales and rental markets since 2012, once asking as much as $9 million, the listing history shows.
On a map the 4-acre property’s location appears totally remote, but it’s just 11 minutes from the main strip in Palm Desert, which has grocery stores, restaurants, art galleries and high-end shopping. Driving up to the property, though, it “feels like you’re going through Mars,” said listing agent Michelle Schwartz of the Agency.
“It’s a total retreat,” she said. “You have peace, remoteness, security, safety, but it’s a lot closer [to town] than people give it credit for.”
Schwartz and her colleague Adrienne Herkes brought the property to the rental market at the end of February. Schwartz couldn’t comment on the seller’s identity.
Located within a gated community in the Santa Rosa Mountains, the compound comprises a main house and two guest houses, which in total offer 10 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and about 10,800 square feet of living space. Each guest house has its own kitchen.
Its style takes inspiration from a variety of cultures, with details including Moroccan-style wall niches, plaster walls, and a Greek-inspired built-in bed in the primary bedroom.
The seller “is a world traveler, and she’s collected energy and vibes from all different parts of the world and put them together into this property that she’s been part-time living in for all these years,” Schwartz said.
Both the compound’s tennis court and pool overlook views of the Coachella Valley, as the property sits high up on Bighorn Mountain.
“It’s almost like you’re on top of the world,” Schwartz said. “And oftentimes, you can see bighorn animals. It’s a very natural setting.”
Schwartz added that because of the property’s high altitude, it remains about 10 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the base of the mountain, making it more bearable, even in the summer.
The property, which can be rented for short terms, hits the market in anticipation of the area’s slew of spring festivals, including Coachella and Stagecoach. Schwartz also thinks the property would be “perfect” for someone seeking inspiration, or even an artist in need of a backdrop for a photo shoot.
MORE: Boathouses Go Next Level at These Five Mansions
“It’s somewhere you can think. You don’t hear anything—there’s no cars, there’s no noise,” Schwartz said. “You’re close enough to everything [in town], so you can have the nuances of everyday life and modern living, but you’re completely removed once you’re here, and you can breathe.”
Patricia Gucci, who founded the luxury travel bag brand Aviteur, couldn’t be reached for comment.
Copyright 2020, Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. LEARN MORE
A record-breaking $11 million sale at The Centennial Collection has set a new benchmark for luxury apartment living in Bondi Junction.
As interest rates, inflation and market sentiment fluctuate, investors are being urged to focus on data, not panic.
Australia’s housing affordability crisis is being fuelled by chronic undersupply, planning delays and rising development costs, as politicians continue to focus on the wrong solutions.
3 min
Australia’s housing crisis will not be solved by first-home buyer incentives or tax changes alone, with leading property figures warning governments must tackle supply constraints if affordability is to improve.
Speaking at the Kanebridge Quarterly Property Leadership Summit in Sydney last week, expert project marketing specialist Sam Elbanna, property investor and fund manager Paul Miron and property consultant Karla McNeice said that a lack of housing supply remained the central issue facing the market.
Elbanna, Director of CPM Realty with more than 30 years’ experience in project sales, argued that successive governments had focused too heavily on stimulating demand rather than addressing the barriers preventing new housing from being delivered.
“The misconception is that politicians think the way to solve the housing crisis is to drive demand,” he said.
“The reality is that’s not the way. This is a supply-side problem, and it needs to be solved on the supply side.”
Drawing on his experience in project sales, Elbanna said policies designed to help first-home buyers often had unintended consequences, pointing to previous grants that ultimately flowed through to higher property prices.
Instead, he said developers were facing increasing red tape, approval delays and rising costs, which were discouraging new housing supply.
“In the absence of stock, demand exceeds supply,” he said.
Miron, a Co-Founder and Fund Manager of Msquared Capital, said the housing debate had become overly focused on tax policy while overlooking broader structural issues.
He argued that affordability challenges stemmed from a combination of factors, including planning constraints, supply shortages, migration levels and interest rates.
“No-one can be 100 per cent certain on the real reason for property prices is going up,” he said.
“The reason why property prices are higher is a combination of interest rates, lack of supply, migration, vacancy rates and maybe taxes play a role.”
Miron was critical of recent federal housing policy changes, warning they could reduce the number of new homes being built and further constrain supply that was even highlighted in the budget.
He also highlighted the importance of the property sector to the broader economy, noting that residential real estate and related industries employed more than one million Australians.
McNeice, who advises developers on sales strategy and market intelligence, said understanding buyers had become increasingly important as affordability pressures intensified.
While affordability remained a major consideration, she said today’s buyers were focused on value rather than simply price.
“People are looking for value for money,” she said.
She said buyers were increasingly evaluating factors such as transport connections, walkability, nearby amenities and flexible living spaces that could accommodate changing family needs.
“What infrastructure is going on? Can I walk to the shops? Can I meet people at the local cafe?” she said.
The panel also discussed the mounting pressures facing developers, with Elbanna arguing that many projects become financially unviable from the moment a site is purchased.
“The viability of a development happens at the moment the site is bought,” he said.
He said rising construction costs, higher interest rates and overly optimistic feasibility assumptions had left some developers exposed as market conditions changed.
While acknowledging the growing number of smaller and first-time developers entering the market, Elbanna said property development required expertise across finance, construction, marketing and legal disciplines.
“It is actually a business that requires a level of expertise,” he said.
Looking ahead, the panel agreed opportunities remained in the market despite current challenges.
Miron said property should continue to be viewed as a long-term investment and cautioned against trying to time short-term market movements.
McNeice said success would increasingly depend on identifying projects that genuinely met changing buyer expectations.
Elbanna said affordable housing remained achievable, but developers needed to deliver more than just homes.
“We can provide affordable housing in this country,” he said.
“But we’ve got to wrap that affordable housing with the things that people want.”
As Australia’s housing affordability debate intensifies, the panellists agreed on one point: without a meaningful increase in housing supply, demand-side measures alone are unlikely to solve the nation’s property challenges.
The pandemic-fuelled love affair with casual footwear is fading, with Bank of America warning the downturn shows no sign of easing.
Exclusive eco-conscious lodges are attracting wealthy travellers seeking immersive experiences that prioritise conservation, community and restraint over excess.
