LOS ANGELES (AP) – Global luxury home sales cooled off in 2016 for the second consecutive year, even with a record number of homes selling for more than $100 million.
A report released Wednesday by Christie’s International Real Estate shows that sales of homes priced at $1 million or more edged up about 1 percent worldwide last year.
That represents a sharp slowdown from 2015, when luxury home sales climbed 8 percent, and from 2014, when sales vaulted 16 percent.
Despite the sluggish sales growth, Christie’s says luxury home prices continued to rise last year, increasing about 2 percent from a year earlier. And for the first time, 11 homes sold for more than $100 each. The priciest sale, a mansion located in The Peak neighborhood in Hong Kong, fetched more than $270 million.
The Playboy Mansion was also among the priciest homes to sell last year, bringing in $105 million. The home, which is located on a 5-acre estate in Los Angeles where countless celebrity-laden parties have raged, was originally bought in 1971 by Hugh Hefner for $1.05 million.