Billionaires are known for being excessive, and that extends to their homes and vacation properties.
Most own significant portfolios of property all over the world, often in the most exclusive neighborhoods.
A review from Business Insider illustrated that not only do billionaires buy expensive homes, they also make those homes and all the neighboring properties more expensive by buying there, driving up costs in the area even as they consume oversized shares of the space.
"Say you could be neighbors with the richest guy in the world ā clearly, the land itself has more value because of the next-door neighbor being who he is," Kauai real estate broker Michael Ambrose told Business Insider.
He was speaking of how the value of some properties in his area has more than quadrupled ā from $3.9 million to $16.5 million, in one case ā in 10 years after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg bought land and constructed an underground shelter there.
Another example is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' South Florida enclave. After he spent $200 million on properties outside Miami, other sellers in the neighborhood refused to accept less for their own homes.
"Hearing what Bezos paid for those two properties ā no one had ever paid that before," Miami real estate broker Jill Hertzberg told Business Insider. "We all rise together, and we sink together."
Another example came in the form of Taylor Swift's real estate purchases in New York, in an exclusive building called the Sugar Loaf. She bought two penthouses and an apartment in that building, plus the townhouse next door to use as a garage.
These excessive purchases drive up costs for anyone who wants to buy property nearby. They also tend to be fairly wasteful, reserving huge areas of land for the use of just one person.
Since billionaires often knock down existing structures to build homes that are more suited to their tastes, these purchases can result in unnecessary pollution due to demolition and construction.
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However, as long as there are ultra-wealthy individuals in our society, it is likely they will continue to overspend in this way unless regulations stop them.
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