Los Angeles mansion, once owned by Cher, is now available for US$115 million after seller cuts price by US$65 million

In a year when the 10 most expensive homes in the US sold for an average US$100 million each, sellers of super luxury properties had reason to be confident. But some were too confident, at least on paper: many sellers of luxury real estate listed properties for millions of dollars more than their ultimate sales price.

The offering price of a Los Angeles mansion once owned by Tony Curtis, and later Sonny and Cher, has swung radically in the last few years. It’s currently listed for US$115 million after being offered at US$180 million in 2017, showcasing a price cut of US$65 million. According to the Los Angeles Times, it was bought in 2016 for US$90 million. And, after an original asking price of US$110 million, a New York City penthouse in the ultra luxury Woolworth Building was relisted earlier this year at US$79 million, a 28 per cent cut. 

The act of pricing homes well above their market value, known as aspirational pricing, has been adopted by sellers looking to generate attention around their listings. It’s used as a branding tool, said Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel Inc. 

“One of the reasons why this is more severe, on a percentage basis, at the high end is these properties are very unique, and therefore very hard to price,” Miller said. And even though the initial list prices are often way off the mark, the properties still can set records when they sell. Each of these super-high-end sales “shows you how extreme the aspirational pricing was to begin with”.

Sometimes pricing an ultra luxury mansion well above market value is part of a seller’s overall strategy, said Stephen Kotler, who oversees the Western region for Douglas Elliman. “There’s a lot of nuance to pricing a luxury property,” he said. Sellers willing to let their properties sit on the market for longer often choose higher prices than do developers who have debt. “Some may say they’re willing to wait.”