Even the 1% Are Selling Their Mansions At Auctions

After languishing on the market for years and steadily getting price-chopped, mansions and estates are hitting the auction block. Candace Jackson explains this has always been a last-resort move, and an unusual one for the wealthy.

1 minute read

November 18, 2011, 12:00 AM PST

By Tim Halbur

Brittany Spears' former home? Listed at $10.8 million, went to auction with a starting bid of $4.5 million.

"As the housing slump drags on, the carrying costs of waiting out the market have become onerous, even for the wealthiest," Candace Jackson explains in the Wall St. Journal:

"A seller who put a home on the market in 2009 hoping that a turnaround was on the horizon may now be realizing that it could take several years or more for the market to rebound."

FULL STORY: High-End Hits the Auction Block

Friday, November 18, 2011 in The Wall St. Journal

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