Luxury Real Estate Headlines: First Week in February 2014

Highlights from this week’s top news stories on luxury and global real estate, art, collectibles and home.

$1,795,000 USD / Dallas, Texas / Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty

Luxury Homes That Are Better, Not Bigger – The Wall Street Journal

Smaller luxury homes are gaining traction even in big-house country, such as Atlanta and Dallas. […] In Dallas, Robbie Briggs, chief executive of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty, did a brisk business a decade ago selling 12,000-square-foot houses, he said. “Today, someone who wants a big family house is probably happy at 7,500 square feet,” Mr. Briggs said. Current buyers value outdoor amenities, such as fountains and kitchens, rather former status symbols like cavernous media rooms, he said.

Frederick Fisher Design in Cali Wine Country Asks $7.5M – Curbed.com

Spike Lee Lists His Upper East Side Townhouse for $32 million – Business Insider

The Millikan House / The well-published Pasadena Hacienda becomes available – Variety

The New Rules of the Hamptons [New York] – The Wall Street Journal

Millionaires See Real Estate as Top Investment for 2014 – Bloomberg

Why some homes have a secret ‘For Sale’ sign – MarketWatch

Sales of $1-million-plus homes went through the roof in California – LA Times

Realty Check: Sotheby’s [International Realty] goes big in Hawai’i and Japan – HILuxury Magazine

Old Masters Week Realizes $71.7 Million – Sothebys.com

Sotheby’s makes its biggest ever London art sale – Chicago Tribune