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By the time a luxury home in Palm Beach hits the market, it\u2019s already sold\u2014and has been for months. The buyer is someone who\u2019s hacking the luxury housing market by working with a broker and quietly joined a developer\u2019s private waitlist before the blueprints were even drawn.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is the subscription economy for billionaires, and it\u2019s reshaping how the ultra-wealthy buy homes across America. Ultrawealthy buyers are now securing spots on private waitlists months\u2014or even years\u2014before a home breaks ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is happening particularly in the custom luxury space where buyers are heavily focused on quality and craftsmanship, said Robert W. Burrage, founder and CEO of RWB Construction Management in Palm Beach County, Fla.\u2014a metro area growing increasingly popular among billionaires and other ultrawealthy individuals like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The region, often dubbed \u201cWall Street South\u201d for its influx of hedge funds and finance executives, has seen luxury home prices soar 187% over the past decade, more than any other major metro, according to Redfin.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing more clients approach us early and ask to be considered for future builds, sometimes before a project is even designed,\u201d Burrage told Fortune. \u201cBecause there\u2019s a limited number of builders doing this level of work, buyers are willing to wait to get the right house.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the past, the wealthy were more similar to the average American, having more time and freedom to go to attend viewings or browse for the right home with their real estate agent\u2014and there was even an era in which luxury buyers trialed homes by having sleepovers in multimillion-dollar mansions. But the hot luxury market today often requires planning years in advance, especially in popular elite markets like South Florida, New York City, and other coastal metros.<\/p>\n
And while the regular housing market stalls with homeowners frozen in place and younger generations unable to break the barriers of high mortgage rates and home prices, the luxury housing market is so competitive in many metros that buyers have to try new tactics to get exactly what they want. It mirrors the K-shaped economy at work, in which high-income earners continue to benefit from rising asset prices and spend more, while lower- and middle-income Americans struggle to afford even basic necessities.<\/p>\n
Luxury real estate is getting even more exclusive<\/p>\n
The backdrop of this trend is a record-shattering luxury real estate market. In 2025, all 10 of the most expensive home transactions in the U.S. exceeded $100 million, up from just five in 2023 and 2024. (The Wall Street Journal even minted 2025 as the \u201cyear of the $100 million house\u201d).<\/p>\n
Globally, more than 2,100 ultra-luxury homes priced at more than $10 million were sold over a 12-month period through late 2025, according to global real estate consultancy Knight Frank. And just in the U.S., luxury home prices rose 4.6% year-over-year in December 2025, according to Redfin, which is more than triple the gain in the non-luxury housing market.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHomebuyers are very selective because prices and mortgage rates are high\u2014they want a house that has everything,\u201d Alin Glogovicean, a real estate agent in Los Angeles, told Redfin. \u201cEven super wealthy buyers are hesitant to pull the trigger because there\u2019s not a lot of great inventory and they don\u2019t want to settle.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, this trend of buyers claiming properties before they\u2019ve been built or even hit the market could fundamentally change how luxury real estate transactions are done in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s compressing the timeline. By the time a building launches publicly, a lot of the demand has already been identified,\u201d Peter Zaitzeff, a New York City-based broker for Serhant who specializes in luxury new development, told Fortune. \u201cThat\u2019s why you\u2019ll see buildings announce \u201850% sold\u2019 shortly after launch\u2014those buyers were already lined up.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not what you offer\u2014it\u2019s who you know<\/p>\n
In new luxury development, transactions increasingly happen privately before any listing is ever made public.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Buyers typically get on waiting lists through brokers, Zaitzeff explained, because brokers maintain relationships with developers to secure clients\u2019 priority months before a new development launches. Some buyers also register directly with developers through their website, but \u201cserious buyers almost always come through agents,\u201d he added. While not all of these transactions are done off market, many are, Zaitzeff said, particularly penthouses, trophy views, and prime lines.<\/p>\n
Harrison Polsky, a principal at Dallas-based luxury developer Cat\u0113na Homes, told Fortune it\u2019s a \u201cvery relationship-based\u201d process, with most buyers getting on lists through brokers, past transactions, or direct connections to the builder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf someone has bought from us before or has been referred by a trusted agent, they\u2019ll often get early notice about upcoming projects before anything is announced publicly,\u201d Polsky added.<\/p>\n
Commissioning a home, not buying one\u00a0<\/p>\n
The primary reason buyers subscribe to homes is that there is a very limited number of builders doing this level of luxury work, Burrage explained, so buyers are \u201cwilling to wait to get the right house.\u201d<\/p>\n
It also gives buyers a say in home details, finishes, and layout, he added, which fundamentally reframes what it looks like to purchase a luxury home.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the high end, it\u2019s becoming more like commissioning something than buying something off the shelf,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Above all, subscribing to developers gives luxury clients access to the best homes, experts agreed. So if you\u2019re not ahead of the curve, it could make it much more difficult\u2014or even impossible\u2014to get the exact home you\u2019re selling out millions of dollars for.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe downside is that it puts more pressure on relationships,\u201d Polsky said. \u201cIf you\u2019re not working with the right builder or broker, you may never see the highest-quality opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
#ultrawealthy #dont #house #hunt #anymore #subscribe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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