Homes topping US$100m smash US records

[BOSTON] The US trophy-home market is shattering price records this year as an increasing number of residential properties change hands for more than US$100 million.

Barry Rosenstein, founder of hedge fund Jana Partners LLC, has purchased an 18-acre beachfront property in East Hampton, New York, for US$147 million, according to the New York Post. That would break the US single-family price record of US$120 million set last month with the sale of a Greenwich, Connecticut, waterfront estate on 51 acres. In Los Angeles, a 50,000-square-foot home sold in February for US$102 million in cash after a bidding war.

The world's richest people are moving cash to real estate as they seek havens for their wealth. In the US, an improving economy and stocks at a record are bolstering confidence among the affluent.