It's shaping up to be quite a year for the ultra-luxury home market.
Three homes in the United States have sold for $100 million or more this year, up from one last year, according to Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel, a real estate consulting firm.
So why the huge sales?
"Wealthy investors are searching for a safe haven to invest their funds," Miller told
Yahoo. "High-end real estate has become the new global currency."
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The sales don't have anything to do with trends in the U.S. housing market, he said. "It's a global phenomenon." And these homes won't be primary residences for their new owners, Miller noted. "It's just an asset class."
The $100 million sales include:
- A $147 million property in East Hampton, N.Y. bought by Barry Rosenstein, a hedge fund manager at Jana Partners. That's the record price for a U.S. home.
- A $120 million farm in Greenwich, Conn. bought anonymously.
- A $100 million mansion in Los Angeles, thought to be purchased by a Russian buyer, Miller said.
As for the housing market as a whole, new-home sales surged 6.4 percent in April, the biggest increase in six months.
"The deep freeze is over, and I think we can expect new home sales to continue to rise," David Berson, chief economist at Nationwide Insurance, told
Bloomberg. But he injected a note of caution. "It’s better; it’s still not strong."
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