5. Mesa Vista Ranch, Pampa, Texas – $250 Million

Mesa Vista Ranch, Texas

Mesa Vista Ranch, Texas Mesa Vista Ranch

You might have thought that the death last September of 91-year-old oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens might have had his heirs rethinking the $250 million price tag of his beloved Mesa Vista Ranch in the Texas Panhandle. Not so; it’s still a nice, round quarter of a billion dollars. Take it or leave it. Boone Pickens spent close to 50 years assembling the property which today covers over 65,000 acres, or over 100 square miles. What it includes is miles of the rushing Canadian River, four homes including a 33,000-square-feet main lodge, a private airport with 6,000-foot runway and terminal building, a 30-seat home theatre, golf course, tennis course, and a two-story stone kennel with 40 bird dogs.

4. Gateways Canyons, Gateway, Colorado – $279 Million

Gateways Canyon

Gateways Canyon, Colo. Photo: Courtesy of Jade Mills Estates

Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks is still waiting for that ‘right’ buyer to come along – with a spare $279 million. The 8,700-acre Gateways Canyons Ranches and Resort was the dream of Hendricks to build a massive compound in the teeny town of Gateway, Colorado about 180 miles west of Aspen. The billionaire bought his first parcel of land here in the 1990s, and kept on buying till he reached today’s massive acreage. The huge property includes a 22,000-square-feet main house he calls West Creek Ranch Residence. Then there’s the 72-room full-service Gateway Canyons Resort and Spa. And even a car museum, the Gateway Colorado Auto Museum, with around 55 classic cars from Hendricks’ own collection. Add to all this a grass airstrip, airplane hangar and two helipads. With Hendricks and his wife Maureen spending less time at the ranch, he says it’s time to sell. Just not at any price.

3. Pierre Cardin’s Bubble Palace, France – $390 Million

Bubble

Bubble Palace, France Courtesy of Christie’s International

Looking like a set from a shag-a-delic Austin Powers movie, fashion icon Pierre Cardin’s wild Cote d’Azur vacation home, le Palais Boules, or Bubble Palace, delivers total sensory overload. Designed in 1975 by Hungarian architect Antii Lovag, this cluster of pink upturned flower pots overlooking the shimmery Mediterranean close to Cannes, took 14 years to build. Cardin, now 97, bought the compound in 1992 and listed it for sale in 2017 after a five-year restoration. The asking price? A jaw-dropping 350 million euros, or $389 million today. With 26 barnacle-like pods, 13,000-square feet of interior space, 10 bedrooms, several swimming pools, a 500-seat amphitheater and not a straight line in the place, this bubbalicious compound is certainly an acquired taste.

2. 24 Middle Gap Road, Hong Kong – $447 Million

24 Middle Gap hong kong

Middle Gap Road home, Hong Kong Photo: Courtesy of Executive Homes HK

A year on, and there are still no takers – and no price drop – for this run-down, dingy, four-bedroom fixer-upper on a third of an acre in Hong Kong. Could it be the seemingly-astronomical $447 million asking price? Probably not. That’s because the 5,700-square-foot tear-down sits on arguably the priciest piece of real estate on the planet – the gated Middle Gap Road community that’s part of Hong Kong Island’s The Peak neighborhood – short for Victoria Peak. Case in point; an empty lot on nearby 75 Peak Road sold, not so long ago, for a staggering $657 million, according to The Real Deal Hong Kong. Even so, $447 million may be wishful thinking on behalf of the unknown owner. That said, Christie’s International currently has a listing for a five-bedroom townhouse in The Peak with a $154 million asking. As they say in the property business: location, location, location. And locations don’t come any more prestigious than the Peak, on Hong Kong Island. In most other posh parts of the planet, this unassuming, colonial-style 5,700-square-foot, four-bedroom home built in 1991 wouldn’t get a second glance. But because it’s perched atop the Peak, comes with views of Deep Water Bay and is just a 10-minute drive from Hong Kong’s Central Business District, it’s listed for an unthinkable $447 million. Of course, any buyer will probably have the house torn down and a shiny new mega-mansion built on its third-of-an-acre wooded lot.

1. The ONE, Bel Air, California – $500 Million 

The One bel air

The One in Bel Air, Calif. Paul McClean

The paint is still drying, and the final landscaping is going in. But the world’s first giga-mansion – The ONE on a Bel-Air hilltop – is finally nearing completion. What hasn’t changed is that eye-watering price tag, a staggering $500,000,000 as in half a billion dollars. What that impressive sum will buy you is a 100,000-square-feet, 20-bedroom compound perched high above Bel Air on four acres, with spectacular 360-degree uninterrupted views. It’s the creation of movie producer turned prolific real estate developer Nile Niami and architect Paul McClean, who have taken seven years to construct this ultimate spec-home. Among its multitude of jaw-dropping features; a 5,500-square-feet master suite, 30 bathrooms, a 30-car auto ‘gallery’, five swimming pools, a 36-seat movie theater, six-lane bowling alley, and naturally, a nightclub.