The world's most expensive properties for sale

Summer is traditionally selling season, but no one is hoping to sell more than the owners of these ultra-luxurious homes, the most expensive properties on the market in the world. Sure, what with the market downturn of the past few years, none of these are challenging the banking widow Lily Safra's $530 million mansion on the French Riviera for highest asking price ever—that's the one that Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov abandoned a $53 million deposit on when the market tanked—but all have prices that stretch to nine figures. The most expensive is a shadowy listing, one that pops on and off the market every few years, but is currently being shopped around privately. Once owned by Russian ballet impresario Rudolf Nureyev, the Li Galli islands were briefly listed publicly last year for $268 million. The three rocky isles include a villa built in 1924 and the ultimate location along the Amalfi Coast, between the mainland and always-chic Capri.

---

No. 2 worldwide is also located in a storied summer destination, the Hamptons, but unlike Li Galli—or most other properties on this list—the massive asking price doesn't even include a house! That's right, this 9.4-acre stretch of undeveloped beachfront in Amagansett, N.Y. is listed for a jaw-dropping $200 million, but comes completely vacant. Needless to say, they're probably hunting for a foreign buyer, and, even more needless to say, the place has yet to sell.

---

The most expensive property listed in London, the penthouse at the Bulgari Hotel, is also missing something. In this case, the sprawling 9,260-square-foot apartment with views of Hyde Park comes completely unfinished. This apparently desirable concrete shell, which is also lacking in listing photos, is currently asking something more than $157 million, though the listing agents won't be any more specific.

---

Billionaire investor Jeff Greene spent millions decking out this Beverly Hills mansion in particularly extravagant style and is now hoping to, quietly, get his money back and more with a $150 million asking price. The sprawling 25-acre estate includes a 43,000-square-foot main house—with a 6,000-square-foot ballroom and 11 bedrooms—a 24-car garage, a 12,000-square-foot pool house, and a 8,000-square-foot guest house.

---

As recently as February, Suzanne Saperstein's Bel Air estate, known as Fleur de Lys, was the most expensive listing in the United States. While two more expensive American estates have been listed in the interim, Fleur de Lys has held firm on its $125 million price tag. The opulent megamansion measures 35,000 square feet and boasts "12 bedrooms, 15 baths, marble walls, limestone floors, a ballroom, accommodations for a 10-person staff, two kitchens, a 50-seat screening room, a nine-car garage, and a three-bedroom caretaker's house." Still, that price is only good enough to tie for fifth on our list.

---

Somehow, despite the economy, there are two $125 million properties on the market. The second, Miami's Casa Casuarina, is certainly pedigreed: it was, until his untimely demise, the home of famed fashion designer Gianni Versace and, in that capacity, hosted many wild parties. After his death, it served as a hotel—so you can imagine just how large it is—but is currently listed as a potential single-family home.