Billionaires create compounds for privacy and status — and their neighbors get richer, too

Yahoo

13 hours ago

Billionaires are buying bundles of properties for several advantages.
The ultrawealthy set a new price for the market, sending ripple effects to nearby areas.
Their presence can also attract unwelcome visitors to the areas.
The real-estate portfolio of the ultrawealthy is typically expansive: Coastal homes, overseas vacation getaways, and a handful of homes scattered in cities they frequent.
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However, billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Taylor Swift, and Mark Zuckerberg have recently been snatching up multiple properties in the same place.
Over the course of two years, Bezos spent over $200 million on three properties in an exclusive South Florida enclave 11 miles from Miami. Meanwhile, Swift dropped nearly $50 million in one of New York City's trendiest neighborhoods, while Zuckerberg is building a 1,400-acre compound in Hawaii that he describes as a "little shelter."
While some billionaires want to bundle their properties for privacy, others simply seek space. But regardless of the reasoning, monied buyers collecting multiple homes at a time can typically name their own price, dramatically affecting the surrounding real estate market.
"Hearing what Bezos paid for those two properties — no one had ever paid that before," Miami real-estate broker Jill Hertzberg of The Jills Zeder Group told Business Insider.
She's referring to how Bezos paid $68 million and later $79 million in 2023 for adjacent mansions in Indian Creek, Florida. He'd go on to purchase a third mansion on the island, which he secured for $90 million.
"We all rise together, and we sink together," Hertzberg added.
The Bezos Effect is changing South Florida's pricing landscape
Bezos, a longtime Seattle resident, announced in 2023 that he was leaving the West Coast and heading to Florida, following the trend of wealthy elites seeking solace in the Sunshine State.
Bezos, whose net worth is $237.8 billion as of August 2025, according to Forbes, didn't buy just one home in Florida; he bought several.
His homes are located on a secluded island called Indian Creek, nicknamed "Billionaire Bunker," and for good reason. The island has security patrolling the perimeter 24/7, so unwelcome visitors — like paparazzi or fans — can't come close. Although it's unclear why he bought several homes on Indian Creek specifically, privacy is definitely a top perk.
Bezos is one of many wealthy individuals to move to the island, and his mansions have raised property values drastically. Miami-Dade County property records show his $79 million purchase sold for $28 million in 2014. (It was listed for $85 million.)
"When Bezos came in and bought 11 and 12 Indian Creek Island Road, those are both tear downs," Hertzberg said. "So that sets the land at that price for those sized lots, those 80,000 square foot lots."
A roughly 80,000-square-foot vacant lot neighboring Bezos' property hit the market in December 2024 asking for $200 million, a little more than what the billionaire paid for the two lots. That's the Bezos effect.
Ilya Reznik, the vacant lot's listing agent, told BI that sellers she's spoken to will not accept less than what Bezos paid.
Hertzberg said the Bezos Effect has spilled off the island to nearby neighborhoods like Bal Harbour and Surfside, which sits just across the water from Indian Creek and has similar views.
For example, her son, Danny Hertzberg, broke a record in October 2024 for the highest sale in Surfside after selling a home for $19.7 million.
Taylor Swift's New York compound
Taylor Swift owns multiple real estate properties, including mansions in Rhode Island, Beverly Hills, and a penthouse in Nashville.
However, over the last decade, Swift has turned her properties at 155 Franklin Street in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City into a compound, paying a total of $47.70 million for privacy, square footage, and the status that comes with living in one of the city's chicest neighborhoods.
BI's Britney Nguyen and Jordan Hart reported that Swift bought two penthouse units from Peter Jackson of "The Lord of the Rings " in 2014 for $19.95 million. Jackson paid $17.35 million for the units — which form a duplex in the Sugar Loaf, a pre-war building in Tribeca — when he purchased them in 2008, Curbed reported. The six-story building has 10 units and two apartments per floor, as said on its StreetEasy profile.
Swift also purchased the townhouse next door to the Sugar Loaf for $18 million in 2017 and another apartment in the Sugar Loaf building for $9.75 million in 2018.
Real-estate agent Andrew Azoulay told The Wall Street Journal he suggested Swift use the townhouse as a garage that connects to the Sugar Loaf through the additional apartment, allowing her to enter and exit the building without using the front door.
Swift's properties in the building appear to be the priciest sold in recent history. Zillow records show a three-bedroom, three-bath apartment in the building sold for $5.95 million in 2023, and a similar unit sold for $7.1 million in 2022. (A four-bedroom unit was sold off the market in January 2024, so the price wasn't available, according to StreetEasy.)
Noble Black, a Douglas Elliman real-estate agent, told BI that Swift hasn't changed the Tribeca real estate landscape much with her high-end purchases. The neighborhood has long been appealing to luxury buyers looking for more spacious apartments in a quieter area of Manhattan.
Likewise, most Swift fans can't afford to buy an apartment in her neighborhood because she lives there, so it's not like Tribeca has been crawling with Swifties since she moved in.
Black also said buyers looking at listings in Tribeca aren't likely to be turned off by Swift's presence in the neighborhood, since celebrities live all over Manhattan; it's part of the city's culture for many New Yorkers to see stars day-to-day.
Black also told BI that Swift's compound is comparable to similar listings in the area. For instance, Black is listing a penthouse in 111 Murray Street, a modern luxury development, for $33.95 million. And in late 2024, the penthouse of 67 Franklin Street, a luxury building just a few blocks down from Swift's compound, was put under contract for $12 million in a deal by real-estate agent Krista Nickols of SERHANT.
Swift's presence in the building still garners attention, with paparazzi and fans often lining the streets outside when she's spotted in the city. For example, a 33-year-old man was arrested three times in January 2024 for trying to access Swift's compound.
Swift's residency also raised some eyebrows in the New York Sanitation Department. In 2023, The New York Post reported that the sanitation department ticketed Swift 32 times for trash that accumulated in front of the townhouse since she had bought it.
Mark Zuckerberg is one of many billionaires living in Hawaii
Meta cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a diverse real estate portfolio, with properties in Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe, California. Still, his roughly $200-million real-estate portfolio is highlighted by his 1,200-plus acre land in Hawaii. He's been buying land on the island of Kauai since 2014.
According to a 2023 Wired report, the compound was built in secrecy and includes a 5,000-square-foot underground shelter. The below-ground dwelling screams doomsday bunker, but Zuckerberg recently tried to quell concerns from locals and said it's a shelter to protect against hurricanes.
"I think that's just like a little shelter," he told Bloomberg. "It's like a basement."
Kauai real-estate broker Michael Ambrose told BI that while bunkers aren't that common, Zuckerberg isn't the first to buy land in Hawaii.
"I know this lady on the East Coast; she owns like a hundred and something acres out here, and she's literally just sitting on it, and it's worth millions of dollars," he said. "I think the more that the world population grows, the more there's an interest in owning physical areas of the world."
As for Zuckerberg resetting the market, Ambrose said several billionaires, like Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, are already in Hawaii and may have contributed. Still, Zuckerberg's presence can be felt in the market.
"Say you could be neighbors with the richest guy in the world — clearly, the land itself has more value because of the next-door neighbor being who he is," Ambrose said.
Ambrose, highlighted a vacant lot for sale in Kilauea, a community on the northern shore of Kauai that shot up in price after Zuckerberg moved in. As of December 2024, it's listed for $16.5 million. According to Zillow, the 7.87-acre lot went on the market in 2014 for $3.9 million.
Zuckerberg also has a budding compound on the mainland
Hawaii isn't the only area where Zuckerberg has accumulated multiple properties. Crescent Park, a small neighborhood in Palo Alto, California, about three miles from Meta's headquarters in Menlo Park, is the site of another Zuckerberg compound.
Since 2011, Zuckerberg has slowly purchased 11 homes, all on two streets, for over $110 million. Some are guest homes, some are for parties, and one is a private school, according to The New York Times.
For the most part, Zuckerberg isn't leaving the properties as is and has demolished three homes and built smaller ones on the property, according to The Times. He's also added a 7,000-square-foot area under the compound.
California real estate agent Sia Glafkides said Palo Alto has always been a desirable neighborhood because of the nearby tech scene. She added that while current residents may be unhappy with the added commotion in Crescent Park, Zuckerberg is adding value to the neighborhood.
"His presence there is a positive overall," Glafkides told BI. "Resident-wise, it's very private and exclusive. Local residents are not happy because there's all this construction and everything going on, but it has certainly contributed to the increased home value there."
In 2023, a home two homes over from Zuckerberg's first Crescent Park home sold for $12.35 million after last selling for $5.8 million in 2014.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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