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Billionaires are snapping up trophy homes in New York, South Florida, California -- and now, Washington, D.C.

Since President Trump returned to office, the high-end housing market has attracted wealthy members of his administration, as well as tech titans and finance executives. They are all in competition for trophy homes across prime neighborhoods in Northwest Washington, Maryland's Montgomery County and Northern Virginia.

Recent buyers include some of America's wealthiest people, such as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who purchased a $25 million home in 2024, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who paid $23 million for a 25,000-square-foot home in 2025.

"If one of these influential folks has a small percentage of more effectiveness to gain from their job by buying a house here and being influential in the community, they will do that," says Daniel Heider, executive vice president at TTR Sotheby's International Realty.

The wind and rain didn't deter one couple from building their dream home on Ireland's southwest coast. Ignoring their contractors' advice ("He thought we were mad"), the pair spent four years and $800,000 replacing a ramshackle hut with a light-filled coastal home that paid homage to the site's past as a sea-urchin farm.

Just outside San Francisco, a gated estate sold for $70 million -- double the previous home-sale record for Hillsborough. The deal shows how hot the area's housing market has become as AI wealth fuels a wave of home purchases ahead of anticipated IPOs.

Washington, D.C., Is America's Newest Billionaire Boomtown

Cabinet officials and tech moguls are snapping up trophy properties, pushing the area's luxury housing market to new highs.

It Was a Ramshackle Hut on the Edge of a Cliff. They Made It a Dream Home.

On the Irish coast, one couple replaced a sea-urchin farm with a modern house.

What's the Deal?

An estate in California's Hillsborough sold for $70 million -- double the previous home-sale record for the town. The deal comes as San Francisco's market is being fueled by a wave of AI wealth.

Billionaire Howard Schultz sold his Hawaii home in an off-market deal for $36 million. The former Starbucks chairman and CEO purchased the estate for $25 million in 2015.

BET co-founder Sheila Johnson sold her Virginia home for $3.1 million in an off-market sale, more than $300,000 above the price she initially sought.

Want to see more deals? Sign up for our Mansion Deals email alert to have the biggest and best luxury home sales and listings delivered to your inbox.

The Luxe Life

We asked three real-estate agents: What is the most extravagant open house you've ever hosted?

"Star Trek" co-star Ethan Peck recalls what it was like to be the grandson of actor Gregory Peck. "I was constantly the subject of external interest and pressure, and felt a need to be perfect."

House of the Week

The owners of WSJ's House of the Week fell in love with a rugged expanse of land in New Zealand, but building a home there posed a challenge: getting a construction crew and materials to a remote location roughly 2,800 feet above sea level.

Instead they built the house off-site and hauled it in large sections up steep mountain passes and across a creek. The result: a house built to withstand the environment, made of durable materials such as corten steel, aged corrugated steel and thick western red cedar.

Your Home

   -- Mortgage rates jumped to their highest level in a year, dealing another 
      blow to a long-stalled housing market that shows little sign of 
      recovering. 
 
   -- Lehigh Acres, Fla., is experiencing a housing and population boom as 
      buyers flee high living costs in Miami and Orlando. 
 
   -- A plan to build a residential tower on top of a grocery store has morphed 
      into a symbol of a generational divide over San Francisco's acute housing 
      crisis. 

About Us

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Kerry Barger is Mansion's senior platform editor. Say hi at Kerry.Barger@wsj.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Candace Taylor is the editor of Mansion. Reach her at Candace.Taylor@wsj.com.