A new report by real estate agency Knight Frank finds that 153 properties in six cities’ “ultra-prime” category sold for a combined total of $6.6 billion in the last year, or an average of $43 million per house.

Hong Kong led the world in sales over $25 million, followed by New York, then London. — Bloomberg

The limestone clad mansion in Bel Air owned by the late TV executive Jerry Perenchio just got a price cut.

But at $245 million, the commanding French neoclassical residence, which measures 25,000 square feet, is still the most expensive listing on the open market in the U.S.

The property, which came up for sale last year for a staggering $350 million, has long been the cream of the crop among high-end estates. — Curbed LA

It’s looking to be a big year for Billionaires’ Row: Just one month after sales launched at 111 West 57th Street, Extell has followed suit at Central Park Tower, its behemoth located at 217 West 57th Street. [...]

The development has been somewhat shrouded in mystery since plans were announced more than five years ago. Construction got underway not long after, but details about the tower have been few and far between. — Curbed NY

David Adjaye’s Financial District condo at 130 William Street has made significant progress since construction started earlier this year. New construction site photos by Field Condition are giving us the first peak at the distinctive hand-cast concrete facade.

The photos also offer a peek at the bronze-accented frames of the windows—this bronze theme will continue in the apartments with Adjaye also designing many of the interior fixtures that will be done up in burnished bronze. — Curbed NY

The Bailey House, one of the approximately 20 surviving Los Angeles residences from Arts & Architecture magazine’s Case Study House program is once again up for grabs.

Designated CSH No. 21, the Hollywood Hills home was built between 1956 and ’58 by Pierre Koenig for psychologist Walter Bailey and his wife Mary, whom Arts & Architecture described as a “contemporary-minded” couple with no children and an informal lifestyle. — Curbed LA

Nearly everyone in Chicago is in favor of establishing the Obama library on the South Side. But now, “There’ll be more room for dissent, and more people in Chicago generally willing to speak their mind without fearing the Emanuel administration,” said Juanita Irizarry, executive director of Friends of the Parks, which has opposed the seizure of parkland. [...] Emanuel’s departure also gives hope to critics pushing for a more open process. — CityLab

To coincide with the sales launch at Downtown Brooklyn‘s 57-story tower at 11 t Street, Tishman Speyer has released a slew of new renderings of the Jeanne Gang-designed condo. Previous views have shown how Gang’s signature metallic rippling effect will be applied to the facade, but the new batch gives us a better look at the nearly 27,000-square-foot private park and the first glimpse of the interiors and amenity spaces. — 6sqft

Rafael Viñoly is best known for designing 432 Park, the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere, but he makes time for private homes, too–at least when they have headline-making features like a bullet-proof glass facade. His firm was first tapped to design this Upper East Side townhouse by Argentinian billionaire Eduardo Eurnekian to serve as his home and U.S. headquarters, but it looks like he instead decided to list the finished product for $50 million. — 6sqft

Earlier this month, The Real Deal put out a monster analysis looking at the biggest property owners across the city based on square footage, along with their annual net operating income.

Their thorough analysis is definitely worth a read, but right here we’re going to give you a breakdown of the top 10 biggest property owners in the city, and some of the projects you might recognize them for. — ny.curbed.com

Phoenix, Arizona–based developer Zach Rawling bought a Frank Lloyd Wright–designed house for $2.3 million in 2012, when its previous owner wanted to demolish the landmark. In 2017, Rawlings donated the David and Gladys Wright House to the Taliesin West School of Architecture, but in June of this year, Rawlings and Aaron Betsky, the architecture school dean, announced in a joint statement that the donation was being revoked due to fundraising concerns. — artforum.com

The billboard suggested the rapid rise in home values between 2008 and 2017 necessitates a steep tax aimed at speculative flipping. The proposed tax would grab as much as 100 per cent of the profit from a home resale during the first year of ownership, then decline by increments of 10 per cent over 10 years. It would target non-resident and resident buyers alike, including primary residences [...] the goal is to keep Toronto’s popular neighbourhoods affordable for all income levels. — The Globe and Mail

Environmentalists are celebrating a precedent-setting vote Thursday by the California Coastal Commission to tear down a seawall protecting an oceanfront home in Laguna Beach.

After the previous owner received retroactive approval for the previously unpermitted seawall, Jeffrey and Tracy Katz bought the home on Victoria Beach. They performed an extensive remodel, which was completed in January and increased the value of the home from $14 million to $25 million. — The Orange County Register

Ten years after the housing collapse during the Great Recession, a new and different housing crisis has emerged.

Back then, people were losing their homes as home values crashed and homeowners went underwater. Today, home values have rebounded, but people who want to buy a new home are often priced out of the market. There are too few homes and too many potential buyers. — NPR

Discovery Inc.'s HGTV network has won the bidding for the California house that served as the exterior for the home of the family in The Brady Bunch, Discovery CEO David Zaslav said Tuesday.

"I am excited to share that HGTV is the winning bidder and will restore the Brady Bunch home to its 1970s glory as only HGTV can," he said on the company's second-quarter earnings conference call [...]. — Hollywood Reporter