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I look forward to Mansion Global hitting my inbox and this article was no exception. The luxury market has seen some recent sales and I hope you enjoy looking at this list from around the world.
“Since the inception of Mansion Global a decade ago, the pinnacle of the luxury market has climbed ever higher, with records notched in the priciest housing markets in the world, such as Hong Kong, London, New York and Malibu, California.
The sales also reflect the changing nature of wealth, with buyers ranging from Chinese tycoons to Saudi royalty, from Russian oligarchs to American celebrities and entrepreneurs, plus a dollop of generational wealth.
The most expensive home sold in the last decade. Google Maps
Deep Water Bay, Hong Kong, 2017
Price: US$322 million
Buyer: Pan Sutong, Goldin Group
The most expensive home bought in the last decade, and possibly ever, was purchased by former Chinese property tycoon Pan Sutong, chairman of Goldin Group, and once the fourth-richest person in China. In 2017, Pan paid HK$2.1 billion (US$322 million) for a 13,854-square-foot mansion in Deep Water Bay, an area home to Hong Kong’s wealthiest residents. In the years since, Pan’s property business has faltered, he took out three mortgages against the mansion and is fighting bankruptcy.
The ‘Chateau Louis XIV’ in Louveciennes, France. Marc Piasecki/GC Images
Château Louis XIV, France, 2015
Price: US$300 million
Buyer: Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud, Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia
Europe’s most expensive sale of the last decade goes to Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia, who paid €275 million, or around US$300 million, for the extravagant Château Louis XIV in France in 2015. The chateau was built in the 2000s, but designed to look like a 17th-century estate worthy of its proximity to Versailles. It features a 57-acre landscaped park, an actual moat, and an iPhone-controlled fountain.
Knightsbridge, London. LEON NEAL/AFP via Getty Images
Knightsbridge, London, 2020
Price: $273 million
Buyer: Hui Ka Yan, China Evergrande Group
In 2020, when former Chinese billionaire Hui Ka Yan was flying high as the head of China Evergrande, the country’s largest and most valuable real estate company he purchased a 20-bedroom megamansion overlooking Hyde Park in the Knightsbridge section of London for £210 million, roughly US$273 million. In 2022, by the time the buyer was revealed, Hui’s fortunes had changed, with Evergrande at the center of China’s property crisis, and the home was back on the market. Hui was detained by Chinese authorities in 2023 and has not been seen since.
The Peak, Hong Kong. Google Maps
The Peak, Hong Kong, 2016
Price: $270 million
Buyer: Hongtian Chen, Cheung Kei Group
The fourth most expensive home was also purchased by a fallen Chinese tycoon. In 2016, property mogul Hongtian Chen paid HK$2.1 billion, or US$270 million—a record price at the time—for a 9,212-square-foot mansion in an affluent area of Hong Kong known as the Peak. The property has since been seized by lenders, along with several other of Chen’s properties, after his global real estate company, Cheung Kei Group, ran into trouble.
220 Central Park South. Google Maps
Central Park South, New York, 2022
Price: $240 million
Buyer: Ken Griffin, Citadel Group
The first American on this list is financial bigwig Ken Griffin, founder of Citadel Group, who purchased four floors at the 79-story 220 Central Park South, a new limestone tower by starchitect Robert A.M. Stern, for $239.96 million in 2019—the highest price ever paid for a piece of residential real estate in the United States. While Griffin is fifth on this list, he may be the biggest spender on real estate in aggregate, having spent more than $1 billion on properties in New York, London, St. Tropez, Miami and Palm Beach, where he assembled a spread for $450 million.
A three-parcel spread in Port Royal. Google Maps
Port Royal, Naples, 2025
Price: $225 million
Buyer: Unknown
The second most expensive sale in the Americas is also the most recent. This month, a 15-acre waterfront spread in Naples, on the Gulf Coast of Florida, sold for $225 million. The three-parcel property was owned by the DeGroote family of Canada, which made its fortune in the waste-management business. The three parcels were together asking $295 million—while a separate Naples property in the same Port Royal area of Naples is still on the market for that record ask. The deal marks the most expensive sale in Florida, a title that has historically been held by properties along the South Florida coast, in Miami Beach, Palm Beach and their environs.
Villa “Les Cèdres” in Saint-Jean Cap Ferrat, in southeastern France. JEAN CHRISTOPHE MAGNENET/AFP via Getty Images
Villa Les Cèdres, French Riviera, 2019
Price: $220 million
Buyer: Rinat Akhmetov, System Capital Management JSC
Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov purchased the 19th-century Villa Les Cèdres in the South of France for €200 million in 2019, or roughly US$220 million at the time. The 14-bedroom villa was built in the 1830s and was owned by King Leopold II of Belgium prior to the 1920s. It is set on a 35-acre property in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the French Riviera. Akhmetov, owner of the biggest industrial conglomerate in Ukraine and the Shakhtar Football Club, owns several $100 million-plus properties in London, as well.
Encinal Bluffs, Malibu, 2024
Price: $210 million
Seller: Jim Jannard, Oakley
James Jannard, founder of sunglasses firm Oakley, sold a 10-acre Malibu, California estate for a record $210 million in 2024, the most expensive residential deal in the star-studded enclave—and taking the crown from the next property on this list. Jannard purchased the eight-bedroom megamansion on Encinal Bluffs, spread across three parcels, for $75 million in 2013. After selling the Malibu spread, he listed a brutalist mansion in Beverly Hills for $68 million.
Paradise Cove, Malibu, California. Google Maps
Paradise Cove, Malibu, 2023
Price: $190 million
Buyers: Beyoncé and Jay-Z
Megastars Beyoncé and Jay-Z purchased a 30,000-square-foot coastal mansion along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California for $190 million, a record for California at the time. The home in Paradise Cove is located on an 8-acre bluff and was designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando for the previous owner, art collector William Bell. The Carters, with their three children, were reportedly evacuated during the Franklin wildfire in December 2024, prior to the larger fires that engulfed Los Angeles in January. The house was not damaged.
Central Park South, New York, 2022
Price: $188 million
Buyer: Joseph Tsai, Alibaba Group
Alibaba Group co-founder Joseph Tsai purchased the second most expensive home in New York City—also at 220 Central Park South, through Blue Pool Capital, a firm that manages the fortunes of the two Alibaba founders. Blue Capital paid $188 million for a penthouse on the 73rd story, previously owned by hedge funder Dan Och, in 2022.”
