When Leona Helmsley’s former Greenwich, Conn. estate went back on the market for $65 million earlier this month, the 40-acre property became the area’s priciest listing – for now.
Listed for $65 million, the 40-acre estate is for sale following a two-year renovation. The current owners bought the property for $35 million in 2012, after the price was cut from $125 million.
To be sure, Greenwich is accustomed to high prices.
In April, a 50.5-acre waterfront estate in Greenwich sold for $120 million, after being listed at $190 million. Copper Beech Farm has 4,000 feet of water frontage and two offshore islands.
Overall, there were 548 properties for sale in Greenwich during the second quarter, compared with 524 in the prior year period, according to David Ogilvy & Associates, an affiliate of Christie’s. Jane Howard Basham of David Ogilvy is the listing agent for the Helmsley estate. There were 231 properties sold during the second quarter, compared with 272 during the same time last year.
The median sale price in Greenwich in June was $2.4 million, up 48.9 percent from May and up 37.4 percent from June of 2013, according to brokerage Houlihan Lawrence, which has an office in Greenwich.
But properties in the upper echelon can be tricky to sell.
“It’s a very limited group of buyers, and you just have to find the right person for these,” said Beckie Hanley, a senior vice president at one of William Raveis’ two offices in Greenwich. “These properties take a long time.”
She said buyers at the high end of the market tend to be local, particularly those looking to trade back country estates for properties closer to town. “There are buyers coming out of the city who want to have a weekend home,” as well as foreign buyers, she said.