“We may now begin to see a qualitative leap in the luxury real estate market, with higher price points.” Mallorca is transforming part of its most exclusive portfolio of premium homes to take it to the next level—elevating it from luxury to ultra-luxury, with prices that reach stratospheric heights. Listings for mansions priced at four or five million euros—which have been flooding real estate websites for years—are giving way to others that add a zero to the asking price. The latest example is the two adjoining villas that billionaire investor and Wall Street guru Howard Marks has put up for sale for a whopping 62 million euros.
“It’s on another level,” says Hans Lenz, managing director of Engel & Völkers Mallorca Suroeste, the firm handling the sale of Marks’ two properties. This reflects a new, emerging market where simply being a millionaire isn’t enough. “This type of listing appeals to a very select clientele—an extraordinarily limited number of people who are increasingly concentrating in Mallorca and the rest of the Balearic Islands. This wasn’t happening five years ago, or at least not to this extent: now you see more of them coming and returning.” The yachting sector is the most obvious showcase, with megayachts like David Geffen’s Rising Sun—a floating palace that this summer has hosted Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Oprah Winfrey, Kris Jenner, Sydney Sweeney, and Pedro Pascal, among others. “But not everyone is going to be on a yacht.” That’s where the onshore offerings come in, which Marks has just expanded.
The two estates that the co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management has put up for sale—a summer retreat I’ve often enjoyed with his wife, Nancy—are located on the Formentor Peninsula, in the municipality of Pollença, in the northern part of the island. The main property, priced at 46 million euros ($52 million), is called La Posada; it was built in 1940 and purchased by Marks in 2014. It features more than 1,300 square meters of floor space with views of Pollença Bay. The property consists of a main house with seven bedrooms and a guest house. Of course, it also features a large swimming pool, as well as a private swimming platform with direct access to the sea.
The Obamas’ Designer Renovation
One of the home’s greatest attractions, however, is the renovation carried out by Michael S. Smith, the highly renowned American interior designer, considered one of the industry’s most respected talents internationally. Among other things, he is known among the jet set and the general public for having been responsible for redesigning the private quarters of the White House, having been personally selected by Michelle and Barack Obama during his time as president. Smith, who has collaborated on several projects with the Marks, has had a relationship with the family spanning more than 20 years.
The second villa, right next to the first, is Sa Punta, with 622 square meters of living space and six bedrooms. Featuring a more modern design, it is clad in glass to allow residents to fully enjoy the views offered by this privileged setting, very close to the Four Seasons Hotel. Among other features, the property includes a terrace with a pool, a spa, a gym, and a glass elevator. Its price is about one-third that of the first home: 16 million euros ($18 million).
“We are witnessing a reshaping of the market,” Lenz observes, referring to the “avalanche” of international buyers with extremely high purchasing power who drove a surge in transactions in the luxury housing market during the pandemic; well-off families seeking an idyllic refuge in which to take shelter while the world grappled with the health crisis. The outbreak of the war in Ukraine, just as we were emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, brought a wave of families from Eastern Europe who also preferred luxury single-family homes. Now a new era is dawning in which real estate transactions exceeding 20 million euros are becoming increasingly common.
The ultra-luxury market is carving out an ever-larger niche and sharpening the contrasts in an autonomous community where a large portion of the population faces severe housing affordability issues. These are opposing markets, however, whose customer profiles do not overlap in any way, according to the real estate sector—even though both share the same territory, where prices that were once out of reach for the middle and working classes are now beginning to be out of reach for many wealthy individuals as well. This is the era of homes costing tens of millions of euros.
