The luxury housing market has slowed to a crawl. High home prices and elevated mortgage rates are pushing buyers away. Sellers are now trying a creative fix. They are offering to accept shares of private tech companies as payment for their properties.
The owner, Sebastian Sagar, a finance professional and investor, is now open to taking private company stock.
Luis Noguera represents the family that owns a Miami home with a $2.6 million asking price. He said his family recently established a family office and views AI companies as potentially attractive long-term investments.
Get your free investing masterclass bonus when you join Market Briefs, our free daily newsletter
Private company shares are hard to sell. Owners of stock in firms like Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX often hold valuable equity that they cannot easily sell or borrow against. By accepting those shares, home sellers tap into a new pool of wealthy buyers.
Andrew Rohm, who heads DMR Media, a luxury real estate marketing firm, noted that the concept is simple. "You just have to call someone out through the advertising," he said.
The tactic is not just for one seller. An anonymous owner of a Brooklyn townhouse at 3 Wythe Lane is also open to the arrangement. That seller, via their listing agent, said: "Every generation has its wealth-creation vehicle. For many people today, that's private technology companies and digital assets."
Because traditional buyers with cash or easy financing have become scarce, sellers are turning to alternative deal structures. In a market where interest rates hover near multi-decade highs, the pool of qualified buyers for million-dollar properties shrinks dramatically. Accepting illiquid startup shares can unlock demand from tech employees who sit on large paper fortunes but lack liquid funds.
These buyers often work at companies like SpaceX or Anthropic, where equity packages are substantial but cannot be quickly converted to cash. By offering homes in exchange for such shares, sellers effectively create a new financing avenue for a demographic that has wealth tied up in private firms. This approach also sidesteps the high mortgage rates that deter traditional buyers, making it a pragmatic response to a sluggish market.
It is uncertain if any homes will actually be traded for stock. Any final deal would likely involve a mix of cash and shares. The primary value of this approach may be as a marketing tool to generate headlines and reach a specific audience of tech workers and investors.
Subscribe to Market Briefs, our free daily newsletter, and claim your bonus investing masterclass
