Celebrity Brands and Real Estate
Can celebrity appeal really transfer to real estate in a positive way? Trump would say yes; Prince fans ditto — and to the wheeling dealing Los Angeles real estate agent, having a home on the market that once housed Elton John or John Travolta could lend the listing a certain cachet. But what happens when a brand is tarnished? Does it pull down all properties with it, or do they weather the association?
According to Mansion Global reports, the Trump Index has not experienced a global decline, but at-home, the brand has seen its year-over-year price growth fall every month since June 2015, when the median resale value stood at 10%. However, is the cooling merely an effect of the overall recent slowdown of New York City’s luxury real estate market? Did the Trump brand simply overshoot demand?
The artist Prince passed last year, and his real estate intricacies were likewise complex. Did his Purple house really get a higher market value due to its association with the famous singer, or did the eccentricities of the insane building lower its value to any but a diehard fan? His enormous grounds and recording studio won’t have too much trouble getting snapped up at some point by an up and coming pop music star turned rapper with plenty of cash (Chance comes to mind as a potential) but will the property hold its value over time because of or in spite of Prince’s name?
What about rental properties that instantly gain cachet as a celeb moves in? Baseball and football stars are known to be early on the scene in their hometowns when a glossy new build goes up, seeking Pied-à-terres and family homes with equal enthusiasm.
Another note — what about homes for sale that were previously owned by a series of celebs? Kylie Jenner just bought a third home in an elite Hidden Hills LA neighborhood; actress Emily Blunt and The Office star John Krasinski just sold three in exchange for a new Brooklyn Park Slope townhouse; and David Arquette sold a historic home for $1.345 million more than he’d paid for it for two years prior. Real estate equity, or celebrity cachet?
What about celebs who seem to invest deliberately in real estate in order to “flip” it? The supermodel pair netted a cool $9.5 million profit when they sold a home they’d purchased for $50.5 million in 2015 for $60 million in 2016.
Others seem to buy with a plan to stay for a while; Sarah Jessica Parker and longtime hubby Matthew Broderick recently dropped $34 million on their classy new West Village pad. Will it increase in value thanks to their residency, or is that just the way real estate naturally rises and ebbs? Only time will tell — in the meantime, photographers haunt the homes of the rich and famous and images go for a pretty penny — almost the price of a small ranch in Iowa if rumors of the Brangelina divorce real estate battle and its media coverage are to be believed!
