John Legend and Chrissy Teigen Sell Beverly Hills Home

Musician John Legend and his wife, model and social-media celebrity Chrissy Teigen, have sold their Beverly Hills home for about $22.7 million, according to their listing agent Marshall Peck of Douglas Elliman.

The property was listed for $32 million last August, but the price had more recently been cut to $23.9 million. Mr. Peck said a previous deal for the property, signed roughly a week after it was first listed, had fallen apart and slowed down the marketing momentum. “Everyone thought we had sold it,” he said.

Mr. Peck declined to identify the buyer beyond saying he is a private-equity executive. The buyer was represented by Joyce Rey of Coldwell Banker Realty.

The roughly 8,500-square-foot, seven-bedroom house has a design inspired by Ms. Teigen’s Southeast Asian heritage, with a hand-carved wood ceiling in the great living room imported from Thailand and teak wood detailing, The Wall Street Journal reported. The primary bedroom has a brass-and-concrete fireplace, a balcony, a “glam room” and designer closets that the listing agent described as “evocative of a Chanel showroom.”

The property also includes a heated saltwater pool and Jacuzzi, a wood-burning oven and a pergola.

The couple bought the house for $14.1 million in January 2016, records show. It had been formerly owned by singer Rihanna. They completely redesigned it and redid the kitchen with professional-level equipment for Ms. Teigen, who is a cookbook author.

Mr. Legend is known for his hits such as “Ordinary People” and “All of Me.” Ms. Teigen recently apologized for her previous behaviour on social media after being accused of cyber bullying. “There is simply no excuse for my past horrible tweets,” she wrote in a statement on the website Medium. “I was a troll, full stop. And I am so sorry.”

Mr. Legend and Ms. Teigen couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the sale. The couple purchased another house, a 10,700-square-foot spread in the Benedict Canyon area of Beverly Hills, for $17.5 million last September, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Ray White’s chief economist, Nerida Conisbee says property price growth will continue next year and mortgage holders will need to “survive until 2025” amid expectations of higher interest rates for longer.

Ms Conisbee said strong population growth and a housing supply shortage combatted the impact of rising interest rates in 2023, leading to unusually strong price growth during a rate hiking cycle. The latest CoreLogic data shows home values have increased by more than 10 percent in the year to date in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Among the regional markets, price growth has been strongest in regional South Australia with 8.6 percent growth and regional Queensland at 6.9 percent growth.

“As interest rates head close to peak, it is expected that price growth will continue. At this point, housing supply remains extremely low and many people that would be new home buyers are being pushed into the established market,” Ms Conisbee said. “Big jumps in rents are pushing more first home buyers into the market and population growth is continuing to be strong.”

Ms Conisbee said interest rates will be higher for longer due to sticky inflation. “… we are unlikely to see a rate cut until late 2024 or early 2025. This means mortgage holders need to survive until 2025, paying far more on their home loans than they did two years ago.”

Buyers in coastal areas currently have a window of opportunity to take advantage of softer prices, Ms Conisbee said. “Look out for beach house bargains over summer but you need to move quick. In many beachside holiday destinations, we saw a sharp rise in properties for sale and a corresponding fall in prices. This was driven by many pandemic driven holiday home purchases coming back on to the market.”

3 key housing market trends for 2024

Here are three of Ms Conisbee’s predictions for the key housing market trends of 2024.

Luxury apartment market to soar

Ms Conisbee said the types of apartments being built have changed dramatically amid more people choosing to live in apartments longer-term and Australia’s ageing population downsizing. “Demand is increasing for much larger, higher quality, more expensive developments. This has resulted in the most expensive apartments in Australia seeing price increases more than double those of an average priced apartment. This year, fewer apartments being built, growing population and a desire to live in some of Australia’s most sought-after inner urban areas will lead to a boom in luxury apartment demand.”

Homes to become even greener

The rising costs of energy and the health impacts of heat are two new factors driving interest in green homes, Ms Conisbee said. “Having a greener home utilising solar and batteries makes it cheaper to run air conditioning, heaters and pool pumps. We are heading into a particularly hot summer and having homes that are difficult to cool down makes them far more dangerous for the elderly and very young.”

More people living alone

For some time now, long-term social changes such as delayed marriage and an ageing population have led to more people living alone. However, Ms Conisbee points out that the pandemic also showed that many people prefer to live alone for lifestyle reasons. “Shorter term, the pandemic has shown that given the chance, many people prefer to live alone with a record increase in single-person households during the time. This trend may influence housing preferences, with a potential rise in demand for smaller dwellings and properties catering to individuals rather than traditional family units.”

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen Sell Beverly Hills Home

The celebrity pair closed the deal at a cut price.

Ray White’s chief economist outlines her predictions for housing market trends in 2024

3 key housing market trends for 2024

Luxury apartment market to soar

Homes to become even greener

More people living alone