Compare million-dollar homes for sale | Real Estate Newsletter
And luxury Shore construction.
It’s not often that you see a home for sale around here that’s priced at $1 million or more.
As of last week, roughly 1,070 homes across the Philadelphia metropolitan area were for sale at this price point, according to Bright MLS. That was about 8% of all active home listings.
This week, we’re going inside three million-dollar homes for sale in Burlington County, Bucks County, and Philadelphia for the latest in the Price Point series.
Keep scrolling for that story and more in this week’s edition:
Elevating the Shore: Learn how this real estate developer changed the Jersey Shore.
Renter interest: New York renters want to come to Philly and vice versa, Zillow says.
Incumbent protection plan: Philly developers are planning a $1.5 million campaign to protect City Council from progressive challengers.
100+ years of blooms: Take a look at rowhouse gardens on a Philly block that Fairmount residents call Centennial Boulevard.
— Michaelle Bond
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What kind of home would you buy if you had a million dollars to spend?
Listings in this segment of the market typically have some of the same features. Soaking tubs in the primary bedroom’s en-suite bathroom. Granite or quartz countertops in the chef’s kitchen. Room to spare.
Location, outdoor spaces, and special features make million-dollar homes stand apart.
In the latest Price Point story, I highlight three homes across our region that are listed for sale for $1 million:
🏊🏾♀️ A Bucks County home on a large lot with a pool in an award-winning school district.
🚗 A newly renovated Burlington County home on more than four acres with a pond and a 2,400-square-foot detached garage.
🌇 A newly built townhouse in Philly’s Queen Village neighborhood with heated floors and a roof deck that offers unobstructed city views.
Take a look inside these million-dollar homes.
Eustace Mita has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in luxury homes and hotels at the Jersey Shore.
One of this companies, Achristavest, builds multimillion-dollar waterfront houses, including a mansion he’s planning that would be the biggest residential property in Avalon.
Two decades ago, Mita was knocking down small Shore hotels to build condo complexes. Then the 2008 financial crisis hit, and business dried up. He said he “backed into” the hotel industry.
Now Mita, founder of Icona Resorts, has seven luxury hotels and is planning to build more. He wants to spend $200 million to bring a resort to the site of the closed Gillian’s Wonderland Pier in Ocean City.
Keep reading to learn more about how this real estate developer changed the Shore.
The latest news to pay attention to
New York renters want to come to Philly and vice versa, Zillow says.
Philly developers are planning a $1.5 million campaign to protect City Council from progressive challengers.
A company that owns parking facilities throughout Center City wants to build a 118-unit apartment tower at 23rd and Walnut Streets.
A development with 857 homes is planned in Lumberton Township on undeveloped farmland and wooded property.
A construction software giant based in Exton has opened a new Philly office.
Burlington Stores is moving its headquarters to Philadelphia.
House of the week: For $750,000 in the Wissahickon neighborhood, a four-bedroom house with a detached garage.
Luxe listing: For $3.3 million in Chester County, a 19th century home with a two-story wine cellar.
My favorite thing to do on walks in the Fairmount area is to admire the gardens that homeowners without front lawns have created. So I’m selfishly glad that this week’s tour goes behind the scenes of some of them.
I’ve stopped to stare at a mural on a garage wall that recreates a famous Claude Monet painting. Now I know it was painted by Brian Augustine, who lives next to the garage and is an amateur artist. (The mural looks professionally done to me.) Augustine planted vines in his garden that play off the mural’s water lilies.
Charlotte Burns has won local gardening accolades for her plants in the ground, in window boxes, and in ceramic pots.
Peek inside Burns’ garden and learn about the block that Fairmount residents call Centennial Boulevard, known for its cherry trees and rowhouse gardens.
📷 Photo quiz
What building is this?
📮 If you think you know, email me back.
A bunch of readers recognized the Masonic Temple in Center City in last week’s quiz, even after I tried to throw you off a little by cropping a picture of it.
Good job. Shout-out to Sean R. for being the first reader to answer.
🏡 Your real estate experience
Last week, I asked how you’ve enhanced your outdoor space to make it a place where you want to be.
Reader Bill G. in Trenton said he furnished his front porch with cushioned chairs. And after enjoying that space, he decided to install a patio and gazebo in the backyard.
Thanks for sharing, Bill.
📹 On the street
Philadelphia is at risk of losing thousands of subsidized rental homes during the next decade as agreements to keep them affordable expire.
Affordability agreements between the federal government and the owner of 925 rentals in West and Southwest Philly have started to expire. And the owner wants to sell the properties.
Renters are afraid they’ll be forced out of their homes. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration has committed to being “part of the solution” to preserve the homes, but the details still have to be hammered out.
With the help of reporting from me and my fellow real estate reporter Jake Blumgart, our colleague Erin Reynolds made an easy-to-follow video explaining what’s going on. Join the conversation on YouTube.
And enjoy the rest of your week.
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