2012 Ends On A Record Breaking Note

4 of The Most Expensive Properties Sold In 2012 As experts predict that 2013 will see the over-all housing market continue its slow and relatively rational recovery, a look back at 2012 reveals that for some buyers, slow and rational have nothing to do with their home buying decisions.

$132 million for a ranch in Montana

Stan Kroenke, owner of, among other things, the St. Louis Rams, the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche is reported to have dropped well over $100 million on 124,000 acres out west in December of 2012. The addition of the Broken O Ranch brings Kroenke’s total U.S. real estate portfolio to more than 850,000 acres. More information about the ranch can be found on the Bates Land Company’s website, here.

$90 million for a penthouse in ONE57 in New York City

Selling for nearly $5,000 per square foot less than Sandy Weill’s penthouse in 15 CPW (see below), the buyers of this 10,923-square-foot penthouse on the 89th and 90th floors of the towering condominium complex — of dangling crane fame — still managed to set the record for the largest single family real estate transaction in the Big Apple.

$88 million for a penthouse at 15 CPW in New York City

In February a Russian billionaire plunked down almost $90 million for 6,744 square feet for his daughter. While it was still owned by Sandy Weill (former CEO of Citigroup), the apartment was featured in Architectural Digest — see the spread here. That one sale lifted the average price of a home in Manhattan for the first two months of 2012 by more than 20 percent and set the record for the most spent per square foot for a home anywhere in the U.S.A.

$85 million for Aaron Spelling’s former home

At 56,500 square feet, Aaron Spelling’s home was the largest single family residence in America when it was built in 1988. After being on the market for two years, British billionaire and Formula One founder Bernie Ecclestone knocked $65 million off the asking price and snapped it up for his daughter, Petra. For more photos, check out this feature on People.com.