Was last year 2019 all over again? Not exactly. Yes, 220 Central Park South—the Robert A.M. Stern-designed condominium building widely regarded as the country’s most successful residential building of all time—again topped the list of most expensive home sales in the country, but the sale of this year’s highest-selling unit did not cross the $200 million mark like its 2019 counterpart. And despite reports of the luxury home market in the US taking its largest annual hit in the past 10 years for the three-month period ending November 30, 2022’s top 10 sales still totaled roughly $1.165 billion dollars, proving that, impending recession or not, luxury real estate will always be traded (although, as you’ll see, grabbing a discount was not beneath many of this year’s buyers.) Here’s our list of 2022’s priciest residential sales.
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1. 220 Central Park South, Penthouse 73—$188 Million
Image Credit: Timothy A. Clary/Getty Should we be surprised that the country’s most expensive residential transaction happened at 220 Central Park South, again? In 2019, hedge fund owner Ken Griffin logged the highest amount paid for a residence on record in the US, when he bought a penthouse for $238 million in the lauded limestone tower. This year, billionaire investor Daniel Ochs’s Penthouse 73 is reported to have been bought for $188 million by a Hong Kong asset management company linked to the founders of e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba, placing the sale at the top of this year’s residential sales heap. Ochs paid $92.7 million for the duplex, roughly only two years ago. A studio worth $2.1 million on the 19th floor was also a part of the sale.
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2. The Manalapan, Florida Spread—$173 Million
Image Credit: Sotheby’s International Larry Ellison, the 77-year-old co-founder of tech giant Oracle, is the buyer of America’s second most expensive residential sale this year; the transaction also happens to be the most expensive home sale ever recorded in Florida. Located in Manalapan, a small town south of Palm Beach, the $173 million estate boasts 62,200 square feet of living space at the main residence, 1,200 square feet of ocean frontage, and 1,300 square feet of lakefront land. According to reports, the estate—which is split in two by a public boulevard—is linked by a series of subterranean tunnels that cross the highway below ground. The seller, tech billionaire Jim Clarke, purchased the property in 2021 for $94.2 million.
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3. The One, Beverly Hills, California—$126 Million
Image Credit: Joe Bryant The One, yes that one—the colossal, incomplete, 105,000-square-foot Bel Air mansion commissioned in 2012 by controversial developer Nile Niami that went into receivership in 2021 due to over $165 million in unpaid debt—was sold to the highest bidder this year. Although nowhere near the slated $500 million Niami thought he would get once the 21-bedroom, 42-bathroom goliath of a house was complete, the eight-acre monstrosity sitting high on a bluff, was still able to fetch $126 million at an auction, placing it at number three on this year’s list of highest-priced residential sales.
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4. Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California—$120 Million
Image Credit: Google Earth Although this deal had already been in the works since 2021 (quite possibly even 2020), Snapchat’s CEO Evan Spiegel whose wife is Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr, only closed the deal on his unfinished $120 million Holmby Hills mansion this year, and that’s why this house makes the cut. Spiegel also purchased an adjacent property worth $25 million, putting the value of the entire estate (which sits across the street from the Playboy mansion) at $145 million. For the purpose of this list, however, since the smaller transaction was completed in 2021, it is excluded from the overall price.
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5. Coconut Grove, Miami—$107 Million
Image Credit: 1 Oak Studios What would the year be without a real estate transaction from Ken Griffin? The multi-billionaire who is already on record as being responsible for the most expensive residential purchase in US history, set another record this year, this time for making the highest-priced residential purchase on record in Miami-Dade county. Griffin bought the four-acre waterfront Coconut Grove estate from well-known Miami philanthropist Adrienne Arsht. Asking price was originally $150 million.
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6. The Manhattan Co-ops—$101 Million
Image Credit: Google Maps The estate of Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder and serial investor who passed away in 2018, sold off two New York City co-ops in the same building, to the same anonymous buyer in a single transaction worth $101 million. The properties were a penthouse and a full-floor apartment located in a historic Fifth Avenue building on the Upper East Side, designed in 1920 by James E. Carpenter, New York City’s premier designer of luxury buildings in the early 1900s.
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7. Paradise Cove, Malibu—$100 Million
Image Credit: Adrian Anz Billionaire media titan Byron Allen bought the approximately 11,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style home of self-storage billionaire Tammy Hughes, for $100 million. Originally priced at $127.5 million, the 3.5-acre property which sits on an ocean-front promontory, includes a long, winding path that leads directly to the beach. This was Malibu’s highest residential transaction for 2022.
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8. Paradise Cove, Malibu—$91 Million
Image Credit: Google Earth Four days before Christmas, Redfin marked the Malibu estate once owned by Max Palevsky as sold. Another bluff-top property with a winding path leading to a private beach, the over 16,000-square-foot mansion has eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms, and features a 14-seat theater, a nine-hole mini-golf course, a tennis court and an infinity pool. Details about the buyer are unknown as of yet. The estate was originally listed at $110 million in October.
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9. The Hamptons Estate—$84.5 Million
In 2020, billionaire investor and owner of currently bankrupt Revlon cosmetics Ronald O. Perelman began selling millions of dollars worth of art, reportedly to pay off debtors. This year, sales continued as the financier let go of his Hamptons estate for $84.5 million. Originally asking $115 million, the 11,435-square-foot beachfront manse ended up going to an unknown buyer in January.
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10. Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles—$75 Million
Image Credit: Google Earth Rounding out this year’s top 10 list is rapper Drake’s purchase of Robbie Williams’ massive 24,260-square-foot, 10-bedroom, 18-bathroom estate. Nestled on a lush bluff with views of the Los Angeles skyline, the property includes a separate staff wing and a guesthouse.
