How secret ‘whisper listings’ in New York give the super-rich exclusive access to penthouses and mansions

At 520 Park Avenue, one of New York City’s ritziest new buildings on Billionaires’ Row, only one residence is officially on the market: a full-floor, four-bedroom condo for US$31 million.

But what you’d never know by scouring real estate listings is that the tower is also selling a 12,398-square-foot triplex penthouse for a whopping US$130 million. To even know this penthouse exists, you'd have to be connected – and probably be a billionaire.

Some of New York’s most exclusive multimillion-dollar homes are bought and sold as “whisper listings” that you'll only find out about via word of mouth, The New York Post reported.

These include an US$80 million mansion (right across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art) that is owned by Carlos Slim, the richest person in Mexico. According to the Post, Slim unsuccessfully tried to sell the mansion for years, then took it off the market to find a buyer through billionaires’ word of mouth.

In the historic Woolworth Building downtown, a five-floor, US$110 million penthouse was briefly on the market in 2017 and then mysteriously disappeared. On the building’s website, the most expensive unit is selling for US$18.8 million. But according to the Post, the US$110 million penthouse is still on the market for those with insider knowledge and the cash.

According to Bloomberg, these listings can also be a sneaky strategy for keeping properties off sites like Zillow, which displays price cuts and how long the listing has been on the market.

It can also be a matter of privacy for wealthy individuals who don’t want to flaunt their sizeable real-estate transactions.

“There’s so much talk today about income inequality and the 1 per cent versus the 99 per cent,” says Jason Haber of Warburg Realty. “There are people who would prefer to avoid any glare and would prefer to sell it off market.”

This trend of secrecy extends to the worlds of hospitality and fashion, too. At some ultra-luxury hotels, the most expensive and exclusive rooms aren’t posted online. They’re available only for well-connected clientele who know of the rooms through word of mouth and have the funds to pay for them.

Then there’s Goyard, a 200-year-old Parisian brand that does virtually no advertising for its products.

“Goyard’s prime press strategy is silence,” Hillary Hoffower previously wrote for Business Insider. “It forgoes any advertising, e-commerce and celebrity endorsements. It rarely grants interviews and very occasionally makes products available to the mass market.”

This world of secret spaces and products is clearly betting that in some cases, super-wealthy buyers want discretion and exclusivity – above all else.

Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

This article originally appeared on Business Insider