Tommy Hilfiger Gets $66.7 Million for Aspen Ski Home
The famed fashion designer sold the ski-in, ski-out property about three months after buying it for nearly $42 million.
The famed fashion designer sold the ski-in, ski-out property about three months after buying it for nearly $42 million.
In Aspen’s booming luxury market, fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger has sold a slopeside mansion for $66.7 million, roughly three months after buying it for nearly $41.3 million.
The ski-in, ski-out home traded in an off-market deal that closed Tuesday, said Steven Shane of Compass, who represented both parties in the transaction. He declined to disclose the identity of the buyer. Mr. Hilfiger and his wife, Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger, bought the Aspen Mountain property in December, property records show.
Mr. Hilfiger declined to comment. The designer, known for his all-American clothing brand, is also a prolific house renovator. Last year, the Hilfigers traded a grand Connecticut estate for a mansion in Palm Beach, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Mr. Shane said the Hilfigers had spent several years looking for a “legacy property” in Aspen to remodel and make their own. “It was never their intention to buy it and sell it,” he said. “It’s difficult to pry a property like this one away, but I think everything has a price.”
Built in 2003, the house is about 665sqm with four bedrooms, Mr. Shane said. It is located on the Little Nell ski trail on Aspen Mountain.
The Hilfigers bought the home from the family of the late Cynthia and George P.Mitchell, property records show. Mr. Mitchell was a Texas real-estate developer and oil baron who pioneered fracking.
Thanks to limited inventory and high demand, Aspen’s luxury market is burgeoning. Last year, a mansion overlooking the tony ski town sold for a record approx. $96.5 million, the Journal reported. A mountaintop mansion recently traded for approx. $54 million.
Mr. Shane said he’s doing an increasing number of off-market deals. “When somebody wants something, they buy it,” he said. “Most often it will be worth more tomorrow than what they paid for it today.”
Reprinted by permission of The Wall Street Journal, Copyright 2021 Dow Jones & Company. Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Original date of publication: March 22, 2022.
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Ray White’s chief economist outlines her predictions for housing market trends in 2024
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.”
Here are three of Ms Conisbee’s predictions for the key housing market trends of 2024.
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.”
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.”
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.”
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