Park Bel Air, an 11-acre housing development currently under construction in Los Angeles, could be the world’s first billionaires only complex. The Wall Street Journal reported that asking prices for homes in the development start at USD115 million and go as high as USD150 million with upgrades and custom furnishings.
Some of the upgrades include a 15,000-square-foot guesthouse, a Champagne room and a 2,100 sq. ft. spa with separate steam and massage rooms. Other homes being built at Park Bel Air will include an IMAX movie theater and closets that include catwalks and built-in cameras for viewing outfits from multiple angles.
“There are probably only about 3,000 people [in the world] who can afford this,” says Barry Watts, president of Park Bel Air’s developer Domvs London told the newspaper. “The buyer needs to be a billionaire.”
Wealthy buyers from abroad who usually look for second homes in New York, London or Monaco have started to target Los Angeles, which is one reason for the major spike in prices according to The WSJ. There are currently over 50 houses on market in Southern California with asking prices of USD20 million. That could change when a new house, also in Bel Air, hits the market next year. According to Nile Niami, the house’s developer, the spectacular new home will have an asking price of USD500 million, or half a billion dollars.
Several real estate experts told The WSJ that the high asking prices don’t normally end up being the price the house sells for. Jonathan Miller, head of New York-based appraisal firm Miller Samuel, pointed out that the pricing is more of a gimmick and less of an attempt to put a real value on the home. He stated, “It’s almost as if there is no shame in wildly overpricing a listing anymore.”
Only three homes in California have sold for over USD100 million with the most expensive one being the sale of a USD117 million property to Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son in Woodside, the Los Angeles Times reported. The highest price ever paid for a home in Los Angeles was USD102 million which took place in early 2015.
