The Rich Keep Buying
Despite Housing Slowdown

Here's a look at what's new in real-estate markets across the U.S. from around the Web. (Some links may require registration or subscriptions.)

The rich keep buying

Your Average Joe may be hesitant about dipping his toe into today's frigid housing market, but the wealthy aren't -- a Business Week article recently noted that "movie stars, hedge fund managers and corporate titans" are buying up real estate these days.

The credit crunch is making it harder for many of us trying to get the financing needed to purchase a home, but that's not an issue for many luxury-home buyers -- about a third of those who buy residences priced at more than $1 million pay cash, Business Week quotes Laurie Moore-Moore, founder of the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, located in Dallas, as saying.

Meanwhile, the New York Post reports that golfer Tiger Woods has just purchased a posh oceanfront estate in New York's Hamptons for $65 million. The gated property boasts nearly six gated acres, a 13,200-square-foot home, a 7,500-square-foot guesthouse, a four-car garage with staff quarters, a seaside pool and a tennis court, the post says. Mr. Woods also owns a $40 million home on Jupiter Island, Fla., and is building a 16,500-square-foot palace with a theater and a swimming pool at the golf course he designed in Dubai, the post says.

Business Week  notes that there's a "shortage" of homes available for sale at $30 million and more in Beverly Hills, Calif., and that a hedge-fund manager just paid $49 million for Penthouse publisher Robert Guccione's 29-room penthouse in Manhattan's Upper East Side. The same home sold for $29.9 million in 2003, during the housing boom, Business Week says.

Even if Wall Street woes hinder some U.S. luxury buyers, foreign buyers may pick up the slack, Business Week says. Still, the credit crunch isn't likely to do too much harm to the über luxury-home market, says Rick Goodwin, publisher of Unique Homes magazine. "If they've got the money, it's not going to be a hardship to fork over cash for a $10 million house," he says.

Want to test your real-estate prowess? Business Week has an interactive quiz that will allow you to guess what a property's worth.

Queen of Soul, King of Pop risk foreclosure

Singer Aretha Franklin and pop star Michael Jackson could both lose their homes to foreclosure, according to articles by the Detroit Free Press and the Associated Press.

Ms. Franklin fell into default for her $700,000 Detroit mansion because of what she calls an "oversight" on the part of her attorney, the Free Press says. A foreclosure judgment was entered against the soul icon earlier this month because of $162 that she owes in 2005 taxes, plus $283 in interest and fees. In total, Ms. Franklin owes $19,192 in back taxes on the home through 2007, the newspaper says.

Ms. Franklin says she will take care of the problem immediately, the Free Press says, which notes that foreclosure proceedings on her tax debts exceeding the 2005 amount wouldn't begin until next year. Her residence, on Hamilton Road, has beaded glass windows and a three-car garage, and abuts the Detroit Golf Club.

Meanwhile, Mr. Jackson's home was scheduled to be auctioned off this week because of the $24.5 million that he owes on his mortgage for his Neverland Estate in Los Olivos, Calif. However through a "mutual agreement" with his creditors, the auction has been postponed to May 14, according to the Associated Press. The postponement will give Mr. Jackson time to refinance or sell the property, the AP quotes Mr. Jackson's attorney as saying.

Mr. Jackson's estate, which he reportedly no longer lives in, once boasted a working private amusement park, with a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, bumper cars, roller coaster and a zoo, the Star Tribune says.

Open Houses – for serious buyers or the curious?

Sunday Times of  London.

The newspaper recently conducted a survey of property in England and Wales (but not within London) and discovered that more than two-thirds of property in areas that were once Roman settlements sell for price premiums of 27% or higher. Some reach premiums of 50%, she says.

For locales like Winchester, St. Albans, Welwyn and Bath, their proximity to London -- which served as the Roman's provincial capital -- account for their intrinsic value, she says. She notes that often, it's the towns with a Roman past that have developed into today's modern day educational and cultural centers.

It's no wonder that the Romans were so adept at scouting out real estate -- they were house-obsessed, with the wealthy often owning multiple homes outfitted with the latest amenities, such as swimming pools. And if the rich couldn't outright afford to buy a home, they borrowed. "There weren't mortgages as such, but there were primitive banks and a series of private deals -- not to mention good bargains to be picked up when overstretched borrowers defaulted," Ms. Davies notes.

Ms. Kim is a senior editor at RealEstateJournal.com.

Join a reader discussion about the housing market.

Send links to articles about residential-real-estate markets to Lauren Kim at lauren.kim@wsj.com.

Email your comments to lauren.kim@wsj.com.