Modern Mansions Hit the Market With Eye-Popping Price Tags

Oct. 25, 2006 — -- They're fit for a king and cost a royal penny too -- and they offer a peek into the spending whims of today's business and celebrity royalty. No, they're not castles. They're the multimillion dollar mansions that are flooding the market these days.

"In the past year, we've had three properties come on the market for $100 million-plus in the United States," says Forbes.com editor Sara Clemence.

The list of sellers reads like a who's who of corporate and Hollywood high rollers, and at least one real-live prince:

Real estate mogul Donald Trump is selling his Palm Beach, Fla., mansion for a whopping $125 million. Trump paid about $41 million for the 80,000-square-foot home in 2004.

Tommy Hilfiger co-founder Joel Horowitz is selling his Lake Tahoe, Nev., fortress for $100 million. He built the five bedroom, 20,000-square-foot home in 2000.

It was also rumored that the Los Angeles mansion of the late TV legend Aaron Spelling secretly went on the market for up to $150 million. The monster, 123-room home reportedly cost Spelling $46 million.

But the priciest of them all is tucked away in Aspen, Colo. Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan's mansion is listed at $135 million.

And the mind-blowing price tags aren't limited to residential properties. Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Realty recently snagged a big commercial property when they purchased New York's historic Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complexes. The deed was done for a tidy $5.4 billion and includes 110 buildings and 11,000 apartments.

While analysts say the real estate market has approached a cooling point, those with deep pockets have proved that the high-end market is still hot.

"It doesn't seem to be slowing. In fact, it seems to be gathering speed," says Clemence.

Forbes magazine reports that the average asking price of the 10 most expensive homes rose by 23 percent in the past year. In 2005, the 10 most expensive homes went on the market for an average price of $51 million. This year the average is $71.5 million.

But are these pricey properties are worth it? While he has made renovations, Donald Trump's mansion is going for more than double what he paid for it.

And recently, actor Nicolas Cage's Bel Air home was on the market for $35 million after he paid $7 million for it just eight years ago.