Top end luxury US property still waiting for ‘magic’ 100 million sale

Wealthy property buyers are finding that the US is the place for bargains as even the luxury end of the market is affected by the global credit crunch.

Two years ago, Donald Trump put his Maison de L'Amitie in Palm Beach, Florida, on the market for $125 million.

In March, Trump knocked $25 million off the price, the biggest discount ever for a single residence not related to bankruptcy proceedings.

Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia's $135 million Hala Ranch in Aspen, Colorado has been on the market for two years but is no longer publicly listed.

Now a survey of wealthy Americans, or those with more than $1.35 million a year in discretionary income, done by American Express Publishing and Harrison Group, has found that high-end home buyers feel this year is a great one to buy property.

'Over the long haul, quality real estate has never been a loser,' says Jim Taylor, vice chairman of the Harrison Group.

In addition, sellers like Trump, with his $25 million price reduction, are increasingly flexible. 'The resistance has lessened,' says Nelson Gonzalez, a broker at Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell in Miami Beach. 'Smarter sellers are dropping their prices, and buyers are coming up a little bit more to make deals.'

There are certainly plenty top end luxury properties on the market at present. They include the Beverley Hills mansion once owned by newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst that featured in the Godfather films at $125 million and Fleur de Lys, a Los Angeles chateau modeled on Louis XIV's palace at Versailles, France, for $125 million.

But whether any of these properties become the first to sell at above $100 million will be a test of time and who is willing to wait the longest – they buyer or the seller.