Buying real estate in the modern era now seems to be handled online rather than in-person. That is not entirely true of course, and high-end mansions and special properties with multi-million price tags still require much more hands-on efforts by the real estate agents and the buyers. The largest mansion was sold by Concierge Auctions on March 3 and the price realized has not been published on their website but was given to Collectors Dashboard by phone inquiry.

The March Collection represents a pulse on high-end real estate, whether these homes are being purchased for residences or for investment. According to Concierge Auctions the bidding was driven by 5 registered bidders competing for the title of owning America’s largest residence.

Concierge Auctions is now part of Sotheby’s and the group introduces buyers to some of the most luxurious homes across the United States. Their buyers are said to include 775,000 contacts that also include 3,500 billionaires and 13,500 private clients. How fitting would it be that they list some of the top mega-mansions in the country (and the world)?

The One, Bel Air, CA was originally listed for $298,000,000 according to the Concierge auction page. The mega mansion was touted as “America’s Most Expensive & Largest Residence.” The sale will seem hard to imagine for the 99.99% of people who do not buy mega-mansions, but it was not a record-breaking price in absolute terms even if it is a record for 2022. The bid was $60,000,000 (USD) On March 2 and sold the following day for $126,000,000… after adding the 12% buyers premium the total amount came out to $141,000,000. Image below by Concierge Auctions.

The initial bid of $50,000,000 came on February 28 when bidding opened, and the property had no reserve. According to the auction house the final price was driven by 5 registered bidders in competition to be the winner of the property. Imagining what a home like this might really sell for ahead of time is also hard to imagine a formula for. Do we price it on square feet at ~$1,343? or do we price it on the land and location? What about the value of the amenities, or the replacement cost?

Could this sale also be the foundation for what happens next in mega mansion property sales? It may also be impossible for most people to understand what it’s like having more than 100,000 square feet in a home and that a home could take 10 years to complete. A lot of variables need to be considered.

Comparing the highest sale prices in America is not really an apples-to-apples comparison. Citadel’s Ken Griffin reportedly paid $238 million for a 24,000 square foot apartment at 220 Central Park South back in 2019. Does a 105,000 square foot mega-mansion in Los Angeles compare to a multi-floor “apartment” in New York? Or what about a $177 million home on a cliff in Malibu, California purchased by Marc Andreesen?

This was what Concierge Auctions had to say about the home:

“Paradise beyond compare awaits in “The One”, a masterpiece of an estate that truly redefines luxury. This 105,000-square-foot work of art appears to float above the very city of Los Angeles itself, elevated for maximum panoramic views and surrounded on three sides with a shimmering moat of water. Ten years in the making, The One is the largest and grandest house ever built in the urban world. A home of this magnitude will never again be built in Los Angeles, cementing The One in a class of its own.”

Collectors Dashboard evaluates high-end collectibles as an alternative asset class. This means collectibles are attracting the same capital that could have been invested into stocks or bonds. A home might not be a collectible to many people, but this may be an entirely different situation which is only targeted at the biggest trophy collectors ever. And let’s just say that the capital for most of these homes would go above and beyond a traditional stock or bond investment.