Most Expensive Home Sales in 2022 – 220 Central Park South, Penthouse 73

$188 Million

The country’s most expensive residential transaction happened at 220 Central Park South.

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.

220 Central Park South was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects and SLCE Architects, with interiors designed by Thierry Despont.

The Manalapan, Florida Spread

$173 Million

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.

Historically known as Gemini, the estate is bisected by a coastal road.

The two sections of the main house – one facing the lake and the other, the ocean – are linked by a series of tunnels beneath the street, including one that serves as a foyer and art gallery. 

The seller, tech billionaire Jim Clarke, purchased the property in 2021 for $94.2 million.

Most Expensive Home Sales in 2022 – The One, Beverly Hills, California

$126 Million

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.

The mansion’s amenities include a 4,000 foot guesthouse, a sky deck complete with cabanas, a theater, a full-service spa, an actual nightclub, a four-lane bowling alley, multiple swimming pools, and a moat. 

Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California

$120 Million

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.

Totaling four contiguous acres directly across the street from the Playboy Mansion, Spiegel also purchased an adjacent property worth $25 million, putting the value of the entire estate 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.

Most Expensive Home Sales in 2022 -Coconut Grove, Miami

$107 Million

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.

The 25,000-square-foot property includes a total of 12 bedrooms and 13 and a half bathrooms.

The property spans 4 acres near Vizcaya Museum & Gardens and overlooks Biscayne Bay, with 400 feet of water frontage.

Asking price was originally $150 million.

The Manhattan Co-ops

$101 Million

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.

Most Expensive Home Sales in 2022 -Paradise Cove, Malibu

$100 Million

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios, Byron Allen has paid a record-setting price for a lavish Malibu vacation home.

According to The Dirt, Allen purchased the sprawling compound that spans almost four acres and overlooks Paradise Cove beach, for US$100 million.

Resting atop what has affectionately become known as “Billionaires Bluff,” the sprawling compound spans almost 4 acres overlooking the Paradise Cove beach and offers more than 200 feet of ocean frontage.

The property has a winding path leading to a private beach, the over 16,000-square-foot mansion has eight bedrooms, 12 baths spread across almost 11,000 square feet, plus two guesthouses — all offering sweeping coastline and ocean views via walls of glass and expansive terraces.

And, it offers a 14-seat theater, a nine-hole mini-golf course, a tennis court and an infinity pool.

Originally listed for $127.5 million, Allen scored a significant discount on the property.

But the sale price is still far more than the nearly $20 million Gustavson’s late father B. Wayne Hughes — a lifetime trustee of USC, who co-founded Public Storage in 1972 and died in August 2021 at age 87 — paid for the place back in 2003.

The property features a Mediterranean-style main house with eight bedrooms and 12 baths spread across almost 11,000 square feet, plus two guesthouses — all offering sweeping coastline and ocean views via walls of glass and expansive terraces.

The estate was originally listed at $110 million in October.

Paradise Cove, Malibu

$91 Million

Four days before Christmas, Redfin marked the Malibu estate once owned by Max Palevsky as sold.

A roughly 6.6-acre estate in the exclusive Paradise Cove area of Malibu, Calif., has sold for $91 million, according to the local multiple listing service.

The deal is the latest in a string of big-ticket transactions to have closed in Malibu over the past year.

The sellers are British videogame designer Jonathan Burton and his ex-wife, Helen Musk.

Records show they bought the property for $36.5 million in 2012 from the estate of Max Palevsky, a computer-technology pioneer who built the Spanish-style house in the 1970s.

The property has direct beach access and roughly 340 feet of ocean frontage.

It has about 17,000 square feet of living space between a main house and separate guest quarters, plus a swimming pool, tennis court and miniature golf course.

The main residence has a courtyard and a 14-seat media room with a row of seats that move.

Mr. Burton and Ms. Musk didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Most Expensive Home Sales in 2022 -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.

Perelman initially purchased the nine-acre, 10-bedroom, 15-bathroom estate on 153 Lily Pond Lane for $4.25 million back in 1986.

Even though Forbes still lists his net worth at almost $3 billion, Perelman has been selling off assets to settle debts for the last few years, and the Long Island estate is his latest big sale.

Other items he’s raised cash with include $350 million worth of artworks, including Alberto Giacometti’s “Grande femme I,” according to the website.

He’s also listed his Manhattan Upper East Side townhouse for $115 million in April, and is reportedly shopping his more famous Hamptons hideaway, The Creeks, an historic East Hampton estate on 57 acres, for $180 million.

Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles

$75 Million

Rounding out this year’s top 10 list is rapper Drake’s purchase of Robbie Williams’ massive 24,260-square-foot estate.

Nestled on a lush bluff with views of the Los Angeles skyline, the property includes a separate staff wing and a guesthouse.

Drake bought his newest California digs from English rock star Robbie Williams back in March for a reported price of $75 million.

The sale price is more than twice what Williams paid when he acquired the Tuscan-style estate from Guess cofounder Armand Marciano in 2015 for a reported $32.7 million.

Built in 2001, the mansion and guests houses boasts 10 bedrooms, 18 bathrooms and 24,000-plus square feet of living space in total.