Super-rich change the way they buy houses, and the real estate market becomes an exclusive club

When a luxury home in Palm Beach (Florida, USA) comes on the market, it has already been sold — and often for months. The buyer is someone who is “hacking” the luxury real estate market by working with a broker and having discreetly joined a developer’s private waiting list before the architectural plans have even been drawn.

This is the subscription economy for billionaires, and it’s reshaping how the ultrarich buy homes in America. Ultra-wealthy buyers now secure spots on private waiting lists for months — or even years — before a home even begins construction.

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This is especially true in the custom-built luxury segment, where buyers are heavily focused on quality and craftsmanship, said Robert W. Burrage, founder and CEO of RWB Construction Management in Palm Beach County — a metropolitan area that has become increasingly popular with billionaires and other ultra-wealthy individuals, such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The region, often dubbed the “Wall Street of the South” due to the arrival of hedge funds and financial industry executives, has seen luxury home prices soar 187% in the past decade, more than any other major metropolitan area, according to Redfin.

“We’re seeing more clients reach out to us early and ask to be considered for future construction, sometimes before a project has even been designed,” Burrage told Fortune. “Because there are a limited number of builders who do this type of work at this level, buyers are willing to wait to get the right home.”

In the past, the rich were more like the average American, having more time and freedom to tour properties or search for the ideal home with their agent — and there was even a time when luxury buyers tested homes by staying overnight in multimillion-dollar mansions.

But today’s hot luxury market often requires planning years in advance, especially in popular elite markets like South Florida, New York City and other coastal regions.

And while the average housing market stagnates, with homeowners stuck in their homes and younger generations unable to overcome the hurdles of high mortgage rates and high home prices, the luxury housing market is so competitive in many metropolitan areas that buyers must resort to new tactics to get exactly what they want.

This reflects the so-called K-shaped economy, in which the richest continue to benefit from rising asset values ​​and spend more, while low- and middle-income Americans struggle to afford even basic necessities.

The luxury real estate market is getting even more exclusive

The backdrop to this trend is a record-breaking luxury real estate market. In 2025, all 10 of the most expensive home transactions in the United States exceeded $100 million, compared to just five in 2023 and 2024. (The Wall Street Journal even named 2025 the “year of the $100 million home.”)

Globally, more than 2,100 ultra-luxury homes, priced in excess of $10 million, were sold over a 12-month period to the end of 2025, according to global real estate consultancy Knight Frank. And in the United States alone, luxury home prices rose 4.6% in December 2025 compared to the previous year, according to Redfin — more than triple the increase in the non-luxury property market.

“Homebuyers are very selective because prices and mortgage rates are high — they want a home that has it all,” Alin Glogovicean, a real estate agent in Los Angeles, told Redfin. “Even super-rich buyers are hesitant to make a deal because there isn’t a lot of really good inventory and they don’t want to settle for less.”

Thus, this trend of buyers securing properties before they are even built or never even hitting the market could fundamentally change the way luxury real estate transactions are done in the future.

“This is compressing the timeline. By the time a property is released publicly, much of the demand has already been identified,” Peter Zaitzeff, a New York-based broker with Serhant specializing in luxury new developments, told Fortune. “That’s why you see buildings announce ‘50% sold’ shortly after launch — those buyers were already lined up.”

It’s not what you offer — it’s who you know

In new luxury developments, transactions increasingly take place privately before any public announcement is made.

Buyers often get on waiting lists through brokers, Zaitzeff explained, because brokers maintain relationships with developers to ensure priority for their clients months before a new development is launched.

Some buyers also register directly with developers through their websites, but “really serious buyers almost always come through agents,” he added.

While not all of these transactions occur outside the open market, many do, Zaitzeff said — especially penthouses, properties with prime views and units in the best positions.

Harrison Polsky, a partner at Dallas-based luxury developer Catēna Homes, told Fortune that it’s a “very relationship-based” process in which most buyers get listed through brokers, past purchases or direct connections with the builder.

“Whether someone has purchased from us before or been referred by a trusted agent, they often receive advance notice about upcoming projects before any public announcements,” Polsky added.

Order a house, not buy one

The main reason buyers “sign up” on homes is that there are a very limited number of builders capable of doing this kind of luxury work, Burrage explained, so buyers are “willing to wait to get the right house.”

It also gives buyers decision-making power over home details, finishes and layout, he added — which fundamentally changes what it means to buy a luxury home.

“At the top of the market, this is becoming more like ordering something than buying something off the shelf,” he said.

Above all, “signing” with developers gives luxury clients access to the best homes, experts agree. So if you’re not ahead of the curve, it can become much more difficult — or even impossible — to get exactly the house you’re willing to pay millions of dollars for.

“The downside is that it puts more pressure on relationships,” Polsky said. “If you’re not working with the right builder or broker, you may never see the highest quality opportunities.”