Celine Dion’s Jupiter Island mansion in Florida seems to have everything a dream home calls for. The 5.7-acre estate boasts two spacious guesthouses, a tennis pavilion, water park with two connecting swimming pools and a Bahamian-inspired main residence. Nevertheless, it has yet to find a buyer after being on the market for almost two years and after its price has been dropped precipitously from $72.5 million to $45.5 million.
MORE: John McEnroe Is Selling His Hamptons House for $14.5 Million When a celebrity sells a home, it may add caché to the property, but it does not necessarily translate into a quicker sale. According to Realtor.com, the median number of days all U.S. homes were on the market as of April 2016 was 67, while for celebrity-owned properties it was 132 days. Granted, the U.S real estate market has been on a consistent rise for the last five years, and some buyers don’t want to purchase at the top of the market, says Roh Habibi, a broker and star of Bravo TV's Million Dollar Listing San Francisco. Besides, acquiring a property takes a lot of time, and “wealthy jet setters don’t have the patience to take on a new project,” Habibi says.
MORE: Live Like Prince in These Turks & Caicos Estates Still, how come celebrity homes are staying on the market twice as long as other houses? One reason is that as with other high-end luxury homes, “the pool of potential buyers is limited so they take longer to sell than typical properties,” says Jonathan Smoke, Chief Economist for Realtor.com. (Realtor.com and Mansion Global are owned by News Corp.) Also, the buyers at this level will not pay well over the market price just because a celebrity has owned it, says Darron Winston, a real estate agent with John Aaroe Group based in Beverly Hills, California.
MORE: Golden State Warrior Stephen Curry Lists Orinda, Calif. Home And the particular designs of some celebrity homes are “taste specific,” says Jacques Cohen, an agent with Compass’ Manhattan office. For example, the homes of some musicians have recording studios and some athletes install indoor basketball courts. In these instances, prospective buyers are “really going to like it or hate it,” Cohen says. Lastly, although potential buyers of celebrity-owned properties can be star-struck, many would like to remain anonymous. “They tend to shy away from much-publicized celebrity homes. They do not want to show up in the tabloids,” adds Cohen. Write to Fang Block at fang.block@dowjones.com
MORE From Mansion Global:
