As the year comes to an end, The Business Journal’s much-anticipated Most Expensive Home Sales list drops in our Friday print edition.

It’s always fascinating to see what these luxury homes have to offer, aside from their opulence. Beyond bedrooms and bathrooms, they come with entertainment centers, basketball courts, home gyms (and not ones we create in our garage).

Following the work-from-home trend, executives and other high-net-worth individuals are increasingly seeking home offices with high-end teleconferencing capabilities.

Some of the top luxury homes that changed hands this year are well known, either as event venues or a place that Britney Spears considered buying. The top sales pay homage to the luxury estates of Cabo San Lucas and white buildings of Santa Barbara with Mediterranean/ Spanish style architecture.

This past year interest rates made things difficult for first-time homebuyers, and also created hesitation for luxury homebuyers. Many opted to pay cash in the many millions of dollars.

Cash transactions are only expected to become more common. In 2022 and 2023 they made up a quarter of the transactions for luxury real estate. 

The median price of a luxury residence reached a record high. Prices increased even as the amount of inventory grew. 

See the Friday paper for the Most Expensive Home Sales list to see the top 20 most expensive transactions of the past year. The properties on the list combined represent more than $49 million in real estate transactions.

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Estela Anahi Jaramillo covers real estate for The Business Journal. 

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