So to woo prospective buyers, sellers are trying a new tactic: offering up sleepovers in their mansions to help seal the deal.
“In the luxury sector, where buyers often have the means and the time to wait for the right property, anything that sparks fresh attention and differentiates a home from its competition can help move the market forward,” Johnston told Fortune.
“For $60 million, you should try it before you buy it,” Albert told WSJ. “It’s a smart thing to do.”
While Johnston told Fortune he’s not seeing it with the majority of listings yet, “it’s certainly gaining traction in high-end markets where buyers are more selective.”
Other real estate experts, however, see this as potentially a move of desperation for sellers—and a signal some luxury homes are overpriced at the start.
“Square footage and celebrity status don’t justify inflated pricing anymore,” Anthony Luna, CEO of LA-based real-estate advisory Coastline Equity, told Fortune. “Buyers want smart design, upgraded systems, and long-term value.”
Meanwhile, luxury buyers and sellers also have to contend with mansion taxes in some markets. The mansion tax in LA, for example, applies an additional 4% tax to property sales of at least $5 million and a 5.5% tax for properties north of $10 million, further complicating real-estate sales and pricing.
The tax, which is typically paid by the seller, is separate from a home’s sale price and can be a “massive amount of money,” Selling Sunset star and Oppenheim Group agent Emma Hernan previously told Fortune. She described it as a “nightmare” for sellers and agents alike.
Considering those factors, luxury homeowners will have to be more mindful than ever when pricing their properties.
The reason there are so many price drops in the luxury sector is “they were mispriced in the first place,” Issacs said.
“Everybody has an expectation of what their home is worth, and real estate brokers who are on the ground showing people every day have a better understanding of what people want, what people’s appetite is, and what things are spent on,” he said. “Some things they’re willing to spend [on], and some things they’re not.”
A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on August 28, 2025.
