Americans overwhelmingly desire all the traditional trappings of the American dream—owning a home, having a family, and looking forward to a comfortable retirement. But very few believe they can easily achieve it.
A July Wall Street Journal/NORC poll of 1,502 U.S. adults shows a stark gap between people’s wishes and their expectations. The trend was consistent across gender and party lines, but held more true for younger generations, who have been priced out of homeownership and saddled with high interest rates and student debt.
While 89% of respondents said owning a home is either essential or important to their vision of the future, only 10% said homeownership is easy or somewhat easy to achieve. Financial security and a comfortable retirement were similarly labeled as essential or important by 96% and 95% of people, respectively, but rated as easy or somewhat easy to pull off by only 9% and 8%.
www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/american-dream-poll-us-economy-e5ddf640
The Private-Equity Scion Buying Up America’s Trophy Homes
Daren Metropoulos has spent roughly 18 years building a property portfolio worth about $326 million
More than a decade ago, at the age of 32, private-equity scion Daren Metropoulos stunned when he paid $100 million for the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.
In June, the entrepreneur and real-estate collector did it again, paying $148 million in cash for a historic estate in Palm Beach, Fla., designed around 1919 by noted architect Addison Mizner. Painstakingly renovated by the prior owner, the 23,000-square-foot Mediterranean Revival-style residence is one of the tony Florida town’s “most storied architectural treasures,” he said at the time of the off-market purchase.
“I’m an old soul at heart,” Metropoulos said in an email, professing a longtime passion for history and affinity for properties with a sense of nostalgia.
www.wsj.com/real-estate/luxury-homes/daren-metropoulos-homes-6546871b