M
ansions are selling for $100 million and up in markets around the country, driven by a surging stock market and wealth created from booms like cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. In June, a Malibu mansion sold to an unidentified buyer for $210 million, a California record. Last year, Jay-Z and Beyonce paid $190 million for a house in Malibu.
Billionaire Ken Griffin has made several high-profile purchases, including a $239.96 million triplex penthouse in New York City and $250 million worth of properties in Palm Beach, Florida. Deals in the $50 million to $100 million range have become common in southern California, New York City, and south Florida.
However, the Chicago area has yet to see a single megasale or even a quasi-megasale, with no recorded sale above $25 million for a single residential property. Local listings tend to be less pricey than in other cities, families often assemble large homesteads rather than buying them, and buyers bring a Midwestern sensibility to the process.
Agents specializing in high-end properties agree that the relative value of homes in Chicago compared to the country's coasts has helped keep a lid on megasales. "Chicago always has been undervalued as a major metropolitan city because it's such a great place to live," said Nancy Tassone of Jameson Sotheby's International Realty.
While some Chicago-area billionaires have paid more than $30 million to create their own properties, they've done so by purchasing several properties and combining them with significant construction costs. For instance, Griffin paid $58.75 million in 2017 for the top four floors of a building on the Gold Coast, which he never combined or built out.
A record individual sale price for a single, finished Chicago-area property may be imminent, according to Jena Radnay of @properties Christie's International Real Estate. She's listing Windsor House, a seven-bedroom mansion on Lake Michigan in Winnetka, for $35 million – the area's highest asking price for a home.
The owners of other Chicago-area properties that have been listed with high asking prices have had to settle for far less to find buyers. For instance, United Automobile Insurance Co. Chairman Richard Parrillo and his wife sold their six-bedroom Lincoln Park mansion in 2016 for $15.25 million after listing it for $50 million.
The Chicago area's lack of megasales may also be due to an innate trait of the region – a Midwestern sensibility that values practicality over showing off wealth. "There's another element that goes to the heart of who we are as Midwesterners," said Jennifer Ames of Engel & Völkers Chicago. "This is not a town of glitz and pretense."
