Winnetka Mansion Sells for $5.6 Million in Off-Market Deal

A Winnetka mansion commanded a $1.3 million premium over its asking price in a sale on Thursday — before it ever hit the public market.

The 9,000-square-foot stucco Colonial estate at 674 Hill Road sold for $5.6 million, 32 percent over its $4.25 million asking price, according to listing information. The sale, the village’s first of the year to top $5 million, is the latest evidence of the inventory squeeze defining Winnetka’s luxury market, where buyers are engaging in bidding wars for the few high-quality homes available.

@properties Christie’s International Real Estate agent Jena Radnay, who represented the buyers, said the price was driven by a nearly nonexistent supply of move-in ready homes in Winnetka. The sale price included furniture in the home, Radnay said.

“There is a total market for beautiful, well-furnished homes that you just had to put a key into,” Radnay said. “The market will pay up for that because we don’t have any of it. So it’s an opportunity that you have to stomp on when it comes your way.”

Radnay declined to name the buyers, and their identity is not yet available in public records.

In Winnetka, Kenilworth and Glencoe, only one other publicly listed home resale is asking more than $5 million, a 13,000-square-foot home on Woodley Road in Winnetka listed at $5.1 million, based on listing portals. The other four listings at that price range in those North Shore suburbs are yet-to-be-built spec homes by Heritage Luxury Homes.

The Hill Road home sits on an elaborately landscaped 1-acre lot near the Indian Hill golf course and about a mile from Lake Michigan. It has six bedrooms and six bathrooms, along with an unfinished coach house, the listing shows.

Lori Neuschel of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate, who represented the sellers, did not respond to a request for comment. Property records show the sellers were Arthur Brereton, the co-founder of Chicago-based Geneva Trading, and his wife, Catherine Brereton.

The sale represents a massive leap in value for the property, which last traded for $1.5 million in 2014, records show. Built in 1916, the home was expanded and updated with designs by Morgante-Wilson Architects and James Thomas Interiors, according to listing information.

Radnay said she recognized the value immediately and knew a bidding war would ensue if the property reached the broader market.

“I felt that if it was going to go to market… we would have had competition and other issues,” she said. “I know the value of that house, so [the buyers] paid what I thought was appropriate.”

The home’s 2024 tax bill was just over $44,000, tax records show.

Winnetka has been the epicenter of Chicagoland’s luxury market in recent years, with scarcity and spiking demand causing surging values. In 2025, two lakefront homes in Winnetka sold for more than $30 million, shattering Illinois’ home sale records.

The village is also the site of major new construction: Billionaire Justin Ishbia is constructing a massive mansion with an estimated cost of more than $43 million, while health care executives Vijay and Shiraz Kotte are spending $10 million to build a lakefront mansion nearby.