If You Build It...

From the NY Times:

Betting on Demand for a Castle

THERE is a castle being built on speculation here beside the Saddle River: an 18,000-square-foot manse with a turret, two libraries, four laundry rooms, a six-car garage, nine full baths and a 14-seat home theater. The price tag says $12.9 million.

If they build it, will a buyer come?

"We're pretty confident — even in this slower market," said Michael Cantor, the head of Pinnacle Homes' custom homes division, which began construction of the castle 11 months ago. "We could build more $5 million houses here, I guess. I think that's a more risky undertaking in the current environment, frankly, than building this house."

Various market reports showed a drastic slowing of the high-end market in New Jersey this spring. Even in highly affluent Bergen County, home of Saddle River, the average time it takes to sell any house priced above $1 million is now 12 months, according to the Otteau Appraisal Group's analyses, which are widely read by real estate professionals.

Mr. Cantor agreed that the high-end sector is tightening. But in his view, the "high high-end" market for a unique house that can set a multimillionaire's heart aflutter in an instant does not wane with interest rate fluctuations or the size of a year-end bonus.
...
The 26-room castle, set on an exquisite 4.2-acre property that stretches 850 feet back to the riverbank from East Saddle River Road, was designed with a particular sort of very rich person in mind, he said — most likely someone in the entertainment field with ties to both coasts.