Originally Appeared on SothebysHomes.com
From a USD $99 million dollar sale in Florida to a HKD $375,046,000 sale in Hong Kong, here are 10 highlighted sales represented by Sotheby’s International Realty in 2021.
Sales Launch For Banyan Gasparilla Sound – A Residential Resort Community
Originally appeared Fort Myers News-Press
Southwest Florida’s Gasparilla Island, home to the Village of Boca Grande, is one of the world’s most recognized addresses for understated seaside elegance, premier fishing, and sugar sand beaches within an intimate community. Relishing in the quintessence of coastal living and exuding relaxed sophistication, Banyan Gasparilla Sound, just outside of Boca Grande, is the vision of Florida-based Integra Investments. Designed by internationally acclaimed SB Architects, the community spans 16 acres with 182 bespoke residences and creates a resort lifestyle curated to celebrate wellness with unsurpassed amenities. Gulf to Bay Sotheby’s International Realty is overseeing sales and marketing for the project under the direction of Rich Taylor.
Spring 2022 Pantone Colors Of The Year
Originally Appeared on SothebysRealty.com
Color can set the tone for an entire room, whether you want to ramp up the energy for lively dinner conversation, or create a zen-like sanctuary for relaxation.
Pantone, the world’s foremost authority on color trends, has released their predictions for the top shades for 2022. Their palette brings together comforting neutrals and delightful pops of bold colors in unexpected ways. Pantone’s report showcases a diverse collection of color to reflect a global desire for calm combined with a sense of optimism, joy, and adventure.
Vibrant Brights
San Jose, Costa Rica | Elena Araya, Costa Rica Sotheby’s International Realty
Upholstery that pairs hot Poinciana red-orange with cool Spun Sugar blue creates a focal point in this seating area that practically vibrates with energy. The tailored piping ties the colors together in a joyful pairing, while the soothing ceiling shade of Basil adds a sophisticated touch that balances the entire scene. Walls are reminiscent of Perfectly Pale, an updated beige that creates the perfect backdrop for playing with bolder colors.
San Francisco, California | Mary Lou Castellanos, Sotheby’s International Realty – San Francisco Brokerage
The ombre carpet runner on the stairs is a sumptuous addition to this Parisian-style residence in San Francisco. It cascades in rich jewel tones that include trending Skydiver and Harbor Blue. The inviting accent chair with its nod to Gossamer Pink provides a truly unexpected contrast and proves that the pastels of 2022 can deliver rich context within a modern color scheme.
Madrid, Spain | Madrid Sotheby’s International Realty
If there was ever a color that injected both fun and regality into a room, it’s Dahlia. The deep violet-plum provides a refreshing focus in this inviting living room. Lush velvet pillows offer both comfort and luxury with a splash of Innuendo when the light hits just right, while the wood tones on the grand double-door keep everything grounded with the right balance of warmth and welcome.
Cool Classics
Shorewood, Minnesota | Kevin Mullen, Lakes Sotheby’s International Realty
In contrast to high-energy primary colors and jewel tones, the other half of this year’s color palette focuses on restful neutrals for timeless sophistication. In this chic kitchen, the Snow White wallpops against cabinets painted the pale gray of Northern Droplet. This shade is matched in the bar stools and dining chair upholstery, where it plays against the deeper tones of the Poppy Seed-inspired island and cool metallic frames of the dining furniture.
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico | Sheryl Clark, Agave Sotheby’s International Realty
This charming estate takes a cue from Pantone’s warm Coca Mocha for a natural exterior that harmoniously complements the property’s lush landscape. The earthy tone lends itself beautifully to contemporary Moroccan architecture and the front door’s impressive wooden carving. Whether strolling through the courtyards or relaxing poolside, the home’s espresso hue offers a welcome sense of calm, and proves that color trends aren’t just a consideration for interior design.
Newport Coast, California | John Cain, Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty
Snow White shines in this bright living room, which gains interest from its playful use of geometry: diamonds on the ceiling, mod patterning on the tub chairs, and the hexagonal coffee table at the center. That pièce de résistance is decked out in this season’s best pastel, Gossamer Pink. The whole result is a mesmerizing study in texture and color that’s also highly livable.
Pantone’s color trend predictions for spring 2022 highlight what’s best about the current design moment: the timeless comfort of neutrals and the irrepressible joy of bright, bold hues. Taken together, the possibilities for creating a unique living space are endless.
Introducing…LUXURY OUTLOOK 2021
Sotheby’s International Realty is pleased to announce the release of its inaugural 2021 Luxury Outlook report which examines high-end residential markets across the globe in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The comprehensive report provides insight into the world’s top primary and secondary markets and the anticipated wealth trends that will drive discretionary investment in the coming months. The report reveals that global wealth is forecasted to grow and pandemic trends are expected to persist in the year ahead. With priorities shifting toward larger homes with special amenities, including “Zoom rooms,” multiple offices and workspaces, and an increased interest in sustainable homes with wellness and technology features, the Luxury Outlook highlights new spending habits and homebuying trends.
“As a leader in luxury real estate, it was important for us to analyze trends emerging from the most unparalleled year in modern history,” said Bradley Nelson, chief marketing officer for Sotheby’s International Realty. “The pandemic recalibrated interest in larger, greener properties, secondary cities, and geographies with favorable tax and emigration policies. These preferences are likely here to stay for the foreseeable future, and it was important for us to provide a resource to those looking to navigate the months ahead.”
Join us as we explore these market-shaping forces and more on luxuryoutlook.com.
Millennials are Changing the Luxury Real Estate Market
By Jacqueline Davalos
February 1, 2021
February 1, 2021
In sharp contrast to the “slacker” stereotype that has defined their generation, millennials aren’t living in parents’ basements. They’re buying multimillion-dollar homes.
At 38%, millennials—adults born from 1981 to 1996—represent the largest share of home buyers in the U.S., according to a survey by the National Association of Realtors released last year. “They’re just as interested in owning a home. They just waited longer to buy their first one,” says Bradley Nelson, chief marketing officer of Sotheby’s International Realty.
Breaking from the notion of a “starter home” that older generations embraced, wealthy millennials, Nelson says, are going big.
This $17.5 million, six-bedroom home is on the market in Austin, Texas.
Photographer: JP Morales for Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty
“In the past, people bought a modest property, lived in it until starting a family, and then traded up to a larger property,” he says. “Millennials are finally coming out of the gate, and it’s not uncommon for the first purchase as a first time homebuyer to be a multimillion-dollar luxury home in the U.S. or internationally.”
As a result, millennials are quickly becoming a dominant force in high-end real estate.
This $46 million house for sale in Aspen, set on 115 acres, contains 17 bedrooms.
Photographer: Michael Brands for Aspen Snowmass Sotheby’s International Realty
Millennials are the most educated generation in history, have higher earnings, and are set to inherit more than any prior generation, according to a May 2020 report by the Brookings Institute.
Characterized by their tech savvy and environmentally conscious values, millennial preferences are poised to dramatically shape the market, a dynamic that has been on display during the Covid-19 pandemic. Beginning almost immediately after the coronavirus hit, for instance, buyers began to flock to areas that offered walkability, nature, and a well-rounded quality of life. (Think food and an art scene.)
Total sales volume in Aspen hit a record high of more than $1.5 billion in the third quarter, while in some neighborhoods of Park City, Utah, median sales prices spiked by more than 50% during the summer, according to Sotheby’s 2021 Luxury Outlook.
Outside the U.S., the Mornington Peninsula outside Melbourne on Australia’s southeastern coast has also seen a similar influx, the report states.
Permanent Changes
A $5.7 million home for sale in Koh Samui, Thailand.
Source: Kaya Estate for List Sotheby’s International Realty
Going forward, developers are likely to integrate touchless, high-tech features into more homes and focus on bolstering sustainability credentials in new buildings, Nelson says.
From energy-saving geothermal systems and solar panels to green roofs, “these are the features that are most attractive,” he adds. “If a home is move-in ready and environmentally conscious and has a Tesla charger installed in the garage, those homes are generating a premium, because you have so many buyers interested in competing for them.”
Overall, the luxury real estate market is ripe for growth.
According to a December Sotheby’s International Realty survey, 63% of affiliates polled said they expected luxury home prices to rise over the next three years in their respective markets. More than 70% of respondents reported heightened demand at the end of 2020.
Luxury Headwinds
A mansion in Montecito, Calif., that’s on sale for almost $17 million sits on just over 4 acres.
Photographer: Matt Wier for Sotheby’s International Realty
In the short term, however, disjointed vaccine distribution and renewed quarantine restrictions could hamper foreign buyer interest. Only one-third of Sotheby’s affiliates expect to see an uptick in demand in the first half of 2021, according to the report.
Additionally, amid indiscriminate declines in overall tax revenues caused by the pandemic, governments globally are reassessing property and wealth taxes as a means of filling budget gaps.
“Across all buyers, tax implications are going to be larger part of their home-purchase consideration,” Nelson says.
For the fast-growing cohort of young, affluent buyers eager to snag their dream homes, millennials face slim pickings for options that meet their unique tastes. “Inventories are at near-record lows in general, and especially for the homes with the features they’re looking for,” he says.
Still, Nelson adds that with “wealth creation growing and cost of capital declining, it’s a promising storm for the high-end housing market.”
NOTABLE WILDLIFE-VIEWING DESTINATIONS AROUND THE WORLD
Appears in RESIDE Magazine.
Rare is the global traveler’s bucket list that doesn’t include a safari. And while many nature lovers associate world-class wildlife viewing with Africa, a growing number of international operators and destination resorts offer compelling alternatives. Here’s a look at notable options around the globe.
Australia
Australia’s Northern Territory lures adventurous types with untouched nature and close, respectful access to aboriginal culture. A pair of environmentally friendly safari operators provide a range of wildlife-viewing experiences in the northern, tropical Top End region.
Davidson’s Arnhemland Safaris focuses on Mount Borradaile, an aboriginal sacred site owned and managed by its custodians, the Amurdak people. Options include bird-watching expeditions and a wetlands cruise with crocodile spotting. Guests can also spend the night in an eco-lodge or cabin located in a natural bush setting.
Bamurru Plains is an eco-friendly, luxury safari lodge with exclusive access to 74,000 acres of floodplains and savanna woodland around the Mary River, on the edge of Kakadu National Park.Ten bungalows overlook the floodplains and feature mesh walls, providing close access to ever-present wildlife.
India
Taj Hotels—India’s most iconic luxury hotel brand—maintains four safari lodges, each offering twice-daily safaris and unique, culturally minded guest experiences. Each is dedicated to conservation and eco-friendly behavior.
Mahua Kothi offers a variety of nature-spotting experiences. Animal lovers hop into open 4×4 vehicles to cruise around looking for Bandhavgarh National Park’s famous Royal Bengal tigers, white tigers, and leopards.
Baghvan attracts travelers drawn to Pench National Park, which inspired Rudyard Kipling’s iconic The Jungle Book. Guests explore Pench’s teak-filled jungles in search of tigers and other elusive creatures.
Tucked into a rocky outcrop near Panna National Park, Pashan Garh offers views of the Vindhya Hills and 200 acres of private jungle. When not relaxing in the dozen well-appointed cottages, safari-goers enjoy sightings of tigers, crocodiles, and wildly colorful birds. Cultural-minded travelers take a break from nature to visit the Khajuraho group of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain temples, one of India’s most fascinating Unesco World Heritage sites.
Banjaar Tola overlooks Kanha National Park and offers an opulent glamping experience in one of 18 tented suites. Kanha is one of the largest and best-maintained of India’s national parks, as well as one of the first Indian tiger reserves aimed at protecting the fierce felines and their ecosystems.
Borneo
Intrepid Travel, the world’s largest adventure-travel company, offers a 12-day Sabah Adventure, which packs in the many natural wonders found in Sabah, a Malaysian state located on the northern portion of Borneo. Besides visiting some of the region’s hot springs and tribal villages, participants catch glimpses of rainforest wildlife, such as tigers, elephants, and orangutans. Also included is a visit to Turtle Island Marine Park, where sea turtles come ashore to lay eggs every night.
Norway
Intrepid’s Spitsbergen Explorer thrills adventurers who jump at the chance to visit arctic Spitsbergen, the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norway. Beyond exploring windswept polar deserts, cliff-lined shores, and imposing fjords via hiking, snowshoeing, or kayaking, participants keep an eye out for polar bears hunting along the ice sheets, plus walruses, reindeer, Arctic foxes, and vast colonies of rare seabirds.
Kenya
Towering above the Maasai Mara—arguably the most famous safari destination in Africa—Angama Mara contains two separate camps, each with 15 tented suites, on the edge of a scenic escarpment, where some of the most famous scenes from the 1985 film Out of Africa were shot. Suites feature 30-foot-wide, floor-to-ceiling windows, and guests can use binoculars to view elephants and water buffalo. And guests rest easy knowing that part of their payment goes toward conservation.
THE ‘BRILLIANCE’ OF RANCH HOMES
THE SINGLE-FLOOR HOUSES HAVE A CASUAL AIR, AND MELD THE OUTSIDE AND INSIDE SEAMLESSLY
Appears on sothebysrealty.com
Ranch living keeps it on the level. Spread out over one floor, these homes are more casual than other styles, often lacking the symmetry of more classic designs. Buyers are attracted to that casual air, and the style maximizes indoor-outdoor living that adds to the feeling of ease. The homes can also allow for privacy, with clever layouts and landscaping.
Modern examples incorporate features like open-floor plans, floor-to-ceiling windows, and the latest technology into the build, but they are still centered on indoor-outdoor living.
The style flourished in places like California, where the weather allows for the outdoors to be an extension of the home most of the year. Many of these were built as suburban developments in the years immediately following World War II.
“In the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s, most of the very good residential architects here in California were designing ranch houses; it was just part of their portfolio,” explains Irvine, Calif.-based architect Alan Hess, author of The Ranch House. “They are just excellently designed.” Architect Cliff May popularized the style, inspired by the adobe ranch houses owned by his family near San Diego, according to a 1986 New York Times article.
“I rebelled against the boxy houses being built then,” May, who died in 1989, told the Times. “The ranch house was everything a California house should be—it had cross-ventilation, the floor was level with the ground, and with its courtyard and the exterior corridor. It was about sunshine and informal outdoor living.”
May built the first home in this style in 1931, and, over his career, designed more than 1,000 custom houses. The bulk of them were in California, but he also had projects as far away as Ireland, Australia, and Switzerland.
Modern architects are also melding cutting-edge design with one-level living. In Santa Barbara, Calif., local architect Ken Radtkey and his team at Blackbird Architects created a ranch-style home there in 2016. It incorporates a modern kitchen, dining, and living area as the center of the home, with the master suite and office separate from the additional bedrooms. Guests and residents can access the outdoors from almost anywhere in the home.
The home has modern sliding doors and floor-to-ceiling windows, and its curved roof creates a shaded outdoor living space. And the outdoor areas are just as well planned, with native and drought-resistant plantings, grass terraces, an orchard, a pool, gardens, and a koi pond with a stone waterfall.
The owner’s imported Moroccan doors have been incorporated throughout the house, creating a unique contrast to the home’s clean lines, according to the architect. There’s also a separate garage with an artist’s studio. Recently listed for just under $5 million, Montecito-based Sotheby’s International Realty agent Joe McCorkell is representing the property.
Homes by May are still in demand, as well, according to Clara Yang, an agent with the Beverly Hills Brokerage of Sotheby’s International Realty. Yang is currently marketing a three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom home designed by May in 1948. Located in the lower Mandeville Canyon area in Los Angeles’ Brentwood neighborhood, the home is listed for $3.6 million.
The kitchen and bathrooms of the 2,322-square-foot home have been updated, but much of the design remains the same, Yang says. “Wherever you are, there’s a door to walk outside,” she notes. “And there are windows throughout to let the light in.”
The home, built in a U shape, surrounds a courtyard with a firepit and mature landscaping. There are also two patios with fountains, a pool surrounded by a glass fence, and a pocket garden.
“It’s not like a modern house with an open-floor plan. It’s like a treasure hunt; there’s something different around every corner, ” Yang says. “It’s perfect for staying home, because each person can have their own space and everyone can meet up in the middle.”
Other May-designed properties do offer that open plan, however. A four-bedroom, five-and-a-half bathroom home in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., boasts a flowing layout, as well as abundant natural light and a central courtyard that connects seamlessly to the indoor living areas.
Landscaping is key to ranch homes, and May is known for having brought in mature trees to plant on the grounds of his projects. This property is no different, note agents Eric Iantorno and Beth Van Boxtel of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty. The home, built in 1973, sits on almost three acres and is currently on the market for $5.8 million.
“Cliff May used adult trees and plants at the time, and these days they are giant,” Van Boxtel explains. They include olive and pepper trees, plus a small fruit tree orchard, a vegetable garden, several kinds of berries, and a variety of tropical plants.
“The olive trees make it feel so romantic,” Iantorno notes. “And the details of the space—things are small and then expand, and that play on proportions makes it feel very special.” Single-level houses have gained in popularity as the baby boomer generation looks to retire and relocate to places without stairs. But Yang says she’s seen more interest in ranch-style homes from buyers of all ages.
People are attracted by the informal ease of living there, as well as the integrated indoor-outdoor experience. Others are drawn to the deceptively simple architecture. “They’re just brilliant little designs, and people are appreciating them,” Hess says.
