The Year’s 5 Biggest Celebrity Home Buyers and Sellers

While the uncertain global economic and political climate may have deterred many wealthy would-be buyers and sellers from dabbling in property this year, it didn’t seem to stop a plethora of celebrities from reassembling their real estate portfolios.

Indeed, it seemed as if barely a week went by without another celebrity buying, selling and in some cases even flipping their abodes, driven by cross-country moves, break-ups, safety or financial concerns and, of course, upsizing thanks to their wallets growing bigger.

Some names, however, kept reappearing over the last 12 months, from Beyoncé buying opulent mansions in Bel Air and the Hamptons to Johnny Depp getting rid of not one, but three penthouses in downtown L.A., as well as trying to auction off a Kentucky horse farm.

Here, WWD looks at the celebrities who have been the busiest buying and selling homes in 2017.

TOMMY HILFIGER

The saga of the fashion designer trying to part company with his pricey penthouse atop the landmark Plaza Hotel in Manhattan has been going on for close to a decade and 2017 has been no exception.

After withdrawing it from the market earlier this year to reportedly enjoy it instead of trying to offload it, Hilfiger appeared to have a quick change of heart as the “For Sale” sign recently went back up again. This time he’s seeking $50 million for the four-bedroom apartment, which boasts a breakfast nook adorned with an “Eloise” mural in one of the building’s four turrets, as well as a terrace that looks like a life-size chess set overlooking Central Park. The apartment was last priced at $58.9 million when it was on the market in April and as high as $80 million at one point.

The designer is also selling his colorful Golden Beach, Fla., abode for just a smidgen under $26 million after upsizing to a 14,000-square-foot Palm Beach mansion, which he bought in 2016 for $34 million.

Hilfiger has certainly put his own stamp — and smell — on the seven-bedroom, three-story oceanfront Golden Beach estate since buying it in 2013 for $17.25 million, with many of the rooms decorated in vibrant candy colors, while several guest bathrooms even feature scratch-and-sniff fruit wallpaper.

He and his wife, Dee Ocleppo, hired celebrated interior designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard and the results can certainly be described as a work of art with a psychedelic red movie theater, a marble floating staircase, a 23-foot custom chandelier, Pop Art-style bedrooms and a bar complete with a vintage style disco ball flown in all the way from Monaco.

DIANE KRUGER

The actress, former model and Chanel muse has swapped L.A. for New York, which led to her putting the West Hollywood contemporary-style mansion she once shared with ex-partner Joshua Jackson on the market. It didn’t take long for the former couple to find a buyer for the five-bedroom, 4,931-square-foot house, which went for $5.8 million in October, just a touch under what they were asking for it when it first went up for sale in May.

Kruger, who won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance in German-language movie “In the Fade,” actually already owned a home in Manhattan’s edgy East Village, which she picked up in 2015. However, she upgraded her Manhattan living situation this year when she sold the two-bedroom apartment in a walk-up building for just over $1 million following a bidding war and dropped more than $4 million on an eco-conscious two-bedroom apartment in another part of the island.

Her new place has all the features one would expect of a Manhattan loft, including original brick walls, reclaimed oak flooring and oversize windows. It’s in an environmentally conscious boutique condominium, where amenities include a gym and a private residential lounge.

BEYONCÉ

Having newborn twins and being international superstars might leave most people with little time to think about anything else, but not Beyoncé and Jay Z. They have been extremely busy in the real estate world on both sides of the U.S. despite welcoming newborn twins, Rumi and Sir, this summer.

First, they splashed out $88 million on a sprawling Los Angeles mansion formed from four separate structures. The contemporary manse boasts 30,000 square feet of living space, including not one but four outdoor swimming pools, a wellness center, a full-sized basketball court and staff quarters.

Then the couple snapped up a $26 million East Hampton vacation home next to exclusive Georgica Pond, where their neighbors include Martha Stewart, Steven Spielberg and Russell Simmons.

If that weren’t enough, Beyoncé quietly sold her Manhattan crash pad for just shy of $10 million. This is close to double the $5 million that city property records show she paid for it in 2005.

They’re not done completely with Manhattan real estate, though, as they still own an 8,309-square-foot apartment in TriBeCa, which Jay Z paid $6.85 million for in 2004.

JOHNNY DEPP

As rumors continue to swirl about his financial situation amid accusations of years of overspending, Johnny Depp has sold the remaining three of his five-strong Los Angeles penthouses collection this year (yes, he had five).

The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star’s total booty for the penthouses atop the trendy Art Deco Eastern Columbia Lofts building in downtown L.A. came to close to $11 million, netting him a tidy profit from the $7 million he paid for all of the apartments around a decade ago. After buying them, he added doorways to three penthouses, turning them into a big private living space for himself, while the other two were used as an art studio and guest suite, respectively. That gave him an impressive nine bedrooms and 14 bathrooms.

However, he put them all on the market in September 2016 following his messy split from actress Amber Heard and rumored financial issues. At first he tried to sell them as one sprawling home, but after failing to entice a buyer, he decided to offer them separately.

In addition to the penthouses, Depp was trying to sell his estate in Le Plan-de-la-Tour in the South of France and cut the price from $55 million to $39 million, but it’s no longer listed for sale. He also recently tried and failed to auction off a horse farm in Kentucky with a suggested starting bid of $2.5 million.

KENDALL JENNER

When she hasn’t been strutting her stuff down fashion runways or appearing in ad campaigns, the model and “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” star has certainly kept L.A.’s real estate brokers busy despite only being 22 years old.

Jenner began the year in a selling mood, eventually turning a small profit on the Sunset Strip house she paid actors Emily Blunt and John Krasinski $6.5 million for in 2016 after her brief ownership of the property was marred by a burglary and stalking incident.

She also waved goodbye to her “starter home” in a luxury high rise building in L.A.’s trendy Westwood neighborhood for $1.4 million.

But she didn’t move back into her mother Kris Jenner’s house like her sister Kim Kardashian. Instead, Jenner, who recently knocked Gisele Bündchen off her perch to become the world’s highest paid model, splashed out $8.5 million on Charlie Sheen’s former house in Beverly Hills. Her new five-bedroom, 6,625-square-foot Spanish style abode is in the luxurious Mulholland Estates and features include a courtyard complete with a fountain; a movie theater; an outdoor pool and spa, as well as a tennis court. There’s also a huge playground, which will no doubt keep Jenner’s many nieces and nephews busy when they visit.

Related stories

Neapolitan Brothers Win Legal Battle Against Apple

Why DJs Love Playing New Year's Eve Shows

67 Party Highlights to Relive From 2017

Get more from WWD: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter