Business
Mark Wahlberg’s new $37 million mansion skyrocketed in value. Here’s what fueled the megahome’s extraordinary rise
Actor-entrepreneur Mark Wahlberg paid $37 million for a fully furnished mansion in Delray Beach, Florida, last month. The deal piqued interest and prompted coverage from TMZ to Architectural Digest, with most of the focus on the celebrity buyer.
But aside from the name recognition, the home’s skyrocketing price over the past five years also makes it stand out.
The actor’s transaction in October marks the home’s fourth sale in that same time period, and a dramatic 118% price increase from its sale in January 2020 when the fully furnished mansion traded for $17 million.
The grand entrance to the almost 17,800 sq ft estate known as Palazzo di Lago.
Daniel Petroni
The estate, located at 9200 Rockybrook Way, saw a rise in value that outpaced not just the local market, but also many of the top luxury markets in America.
In Delray Beach, the average sale price for a single-family luxury home, represented by the top 10% of closed sales, rose by just over 78%; Los Angeles was up 30%; the Hamptons rose 44%; and Manhattan increased just 4.5% according to Elliman Report data from the first quarter of 2020 to the third quarter of 2025.
The home’s steep rise in value even outperformed the S&P 500, which was up about 100% over the same time period.
One mansion, four sales
The massive resort-style pool in the backyard is flanked by adult palms, a jumbo chess set, fire features, and a waterfall with a grotto below and a hot tub on top.
Daniel Petroni
Remarkably, the residence has traded hands four times since 2020. Just one real estate broker represented the listing in all four transactions, making the soaring value of the seven-bedroom, 10-bath mansion even more unique.
Back in 2020, Douglas Elliman real estate broker Senada Adzem represented the original owners of 9200 Rockybrook, when the house was known as the Sundara estate. Three years later, Adzem represented the mansion’s second owners who listed the home again, when it sold for $26 million, up 53% in just three years.
A little over a year after buying the place, public records show a trust connected to William Cafaro, the co-president of a retail property development company in Niles, Ohio, and the home’s third resident decided to sell. Adzem was once again the listing agent.
This transaction was more unusual. Cafaro sold the home as part of a larger $50.5 million deal to purchase a Ferrari-inspired mansion less than half mile up the road in Stone Creek Ranch. Casa Maranello, as it’s known, was being sold by local developer Aldo Stark, of Prestige Design Homes, with Adzem as the listing agent.
Cafaro paid for the new home with $24.5 million in cash, plus the deed to 9200 Rockybrook Way, which was valued in the deal at the same price he’d paid for it: $26 million.
When that sale closed in January 2025, Stark became the fourth owner of the mansion and he immediately started a dramatic multimillion-dollar renovation of the almost 17,800-square-foot megahome. He scrapped the old Sundara name and clad the home’s old sheet-rocked walls in polished rare stones and bold high-gloss Guyana wood from Brazil.
A side-by-side before and after of the foyer’s grand staircase. Stark added a 30-ft tall vegetation wall and finished the adjacent walls in high-gloss Brazilian wood.
He installed vibrant green vegetation above a grand stairway and into the ceilings.
Stark completely reimagined everything from the kitchen to the clubroom and filled the residence with bespoke furniture.
The kitchen before.
Daniel Petroni
The kitchen after. The new-look includes counters clad in Orobico Grigio marble, floor-to-ceiling walnut cabinetry, vegetation accents in the ceiling and 30 tear-drop shaped light fixtures.
And about two moths after closing, the megahome was listed for sale for a fourth time.
Reemerging with a new look, new name and a new price tag, one of the few things to remain the same was that Adzem was once again the listing agent.
The lounge bar before.
Daniel Petroni
The lounge bar after.
Daniel Petroni
The home, now called Palazzo di Lago, debuted with an ambitious $45 million asking price, $19 million more than what Stark paid for it two months earlier and 165% more than what it sold for in 2020.
By October Adzem closed the fourth deal and delivered Palazzo di Lago to its fifth owner, who the buyer’s broker, Michael Costello of Compass, confirmed to CNBC was Mark Wahlberg.
One of the mansion’s two home offices clad in great wave marble.
Daniel Petroni
According to Florida’s Multiple Listing Service, the fully furnished mansion closed at $37 million, $11 million more than what Stark bought it for seven months earlier, and up 118% from its 2020 sale.
And Adzem pulled off an uncommon feat in real estate, selling the same house four times in five years in transactions totaling $106 million.
Primary bedroom
Daniel Petroni
Five owners across five years seems like an unusually high turnover rate, but Adzem has a simple explanation.
“People’s circumstances change and they have different chapters in their life. So we were privileged to be able to guide this home through different evolutions and different owners and be able to add value to it,” Adzem said.
According to Adzem, the mansion’s remarkable appreciation was fueled by a multitude of factors. Here are the top five:
1. The pandemic
Adzem attributed a large part of the 53% rise in price from 2020 to 2023 to the pandemic, which made demand and prices for homes in South Florida surge.
“After Covid, our market definitely accelerated,” she told CNBC.
Her walk-in closet is Chanel-boutique inspired
Daniel Petroni
2. The ‘micro-market’
Some of the other market dynamics driving the price of Palazzo di Lago are unique to Stone Creek Ranch, which Adzem described as a luxury “micro-market.”
The exclusive gated community spans about 187 acres with 37 luxury homes each on about 2.5 acre lots. It’s a tight supply that’s seen pricing dramatically impacted by a wave of new construction homes that have traded at record-breaking prices. Those recent comps helped push the price of Palazzo di Lago higher.
Even the price of dirt in Stone Creek Ranch is on a steep rise. Back in 2013, the empty lot at 9200 Rockybrook Way traded for $800,000. In 2021, Adzem sold a comparable 2.5-acre lot for $1.7 million.
“The last one they traded was $6 million,” Adzem told CNBC. “However … there are no vacant lots left in this community.”
And Adzem believes a more than threefold rise in the price of dirt here is just the beginning. She points to the fact that 2.5-acre lots worthy of a megahome are hard to come by in Palm Beach County, and the dwindling supply in this neighborhood in particular will push lot prices even higher.
“I feel like the dirt is going to double because the only upcoming potential sales would be teardowns.”
His closet takes inspiration from Tom Ford.
Daniel Petroni
3. The power of VIP neighbors
Another market driver: the tiny community’s growing list of VIP owners.
In 2021, billionaire hedge fund manager and owner of the New York Mets, Steve Cohen purchased the home next door to 9200 Rockybrook Way for about $22 million, according to MLS.
“[Potential buyers] typically do look to know who else owns in the community. That’s important to them,” Adzem said.
Rich and famous residents can create a halo effect and make nearby real estate more desirable to potential buyers. And there’s no shortage of ultra-high-net-worth neighbors living nearby, including several present and former CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, a former NFL player, and a pop star, according to Adzem and public records.
And now some might even see Walhberg’s new ownership as adding to the community’s allure. Meanwhile, developer Stark just finished construction and recently moved into his own 32,000-square-foot mansion.
4. Wealth migration
Wealthy buyers looking to escape the tax burdens of their home states continue to see the tax advantages offered in Florida as a big draw and that helps drive and sustain demand.
“We saw a big influx and continued influx of buyers from California, from New York, from Connecticut, and they want what you see here,” Adzem told CNBC.
The open-concept kitchen flows into a family room with faux vegetation that accents the ceiling.
Daniel Petroni
5. The multimillion-dollar renovation
Adzem also credited Stark’s renovation with adding to the estate’s value.
“He didn’t go neutral and he didn’t go very light with color scheme. He really wanted to make an impact and put his own taste here,” Adzem said.
Adzem and Stark would only characterize the expense as “a multimillion-dollar renovation,” so it’s unclear exactly how much it took to turn a home built in 2017 into the new Palazzo di Lago.
But Adzem told CNBC the dramatic renovation and the new “James-Bond-inspired vibe” were the final catalysts that delivered a buyer willing to pay a premium.
Correction: William Cafaro paid for the new home with $24.5 million in cash. A previous version of this story omitted the million. The price of the home rose 53% from 2020 to 2023. An earlier version misstated the percentage.
1724844288-0/BeFunky-collage]_______-(8)1724844288-0-640x480.webp "Who is winning global tech race? | The Express Tribune")
Reselling tickets for live events for profit is set to be banned by the Government.
Ministers are expected to announce the plan to tackle touts and resale sites which offer tickets at several times’ their face value.
The Labour manifesto promised stronger protections to stop consumers being scammed or priced out of events by touts, who frequently use bots to buy tickets in bulk the moment they go on sale, which they can then sell on for huge mark-ups on secondary ticketing websites.
A consultation on the changes had canvassed views on capping costs at up to 30% above the face value of a ticket.
But reports in the Guardian and Financial Times revealed ministers were expected to set the limit at the face value, although fees could still be charged on top of that price.
The Government declined to comment on the reports.
The move, which could be announced on Wednesday, follows a campaign by some of the biggest names in music to cut costs for fans.
Coldplay, Dua Lipa and Radiohead were last week among artists urging the Government to honour the pledge to cap resale prices.
The Cure’s Robert Smith, New Order, Mark Knopfler, Iron Maiden, PJ Harvey and Mercury Prize-winner Sam Fender joined them in signing a statement calling for a cap to “restore faith in the ticketing system” and “help democratise public access to the arts”.
Other signatories included the watchdog Which?, FanFair Alliance, O2, the Football Supporters’ Association and organisations representing the music and theatre industries, venues, managers and ticket retailers.
Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at Which?, said: “This is great news for music and sports fans.
“A price cap set at the ticket’s original face value plus fees will rein in professional touts and put tickets back in the hands of real fans.
“For far too long, music and sports fans who missed out on tickets in the initial sales have been ripped off by touts on secondary ticketing sites and forced to pay over the odds to see their favourite artist perform or watch their team play.
“The Government must listen to our coalition of performers, fans, consumer groups and the UK music industry and show that the price cap is a priority by including the necessary legislation in the King’s Speech.”
Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation Entertainment backed the move.
In a statement the firm said: “Live Nation fully supports the UK Government’s plan to ban ticket resale above face value.
“Ticketmaster already limits all resale in the UK to face value prices and this is another major step forward for fans, cracking down on exploitative touting to help keep live events accessible. We encourage others around the world to adopt similar fan-first policies.”
But resale firm StubHub warned the move could fuel the black market in tickets.
A spokesman for StubHub International said: “The Government’s intention to implement a price cap on the resale of live event tickets will condemn fans to take risks to see their favourite live events.
“With a price cap on regulated marketplaces, ticket transactions will move to black markets.
“When a regulated market becomes a black market, only bad things happen for consumers. Fraud, fear and zero recourse.”
Signage is displayed outside the Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. headquarters in Cockeysville, Maryland, U.S.
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Sinclair disclosed a stake in fellow broadcast station owner E.W. Scripps on Monday, in a move to push toward a merger of the companies.
Sinclair, which acquired a roughly 8% position in Scripps per the filing, recently launched a strategic review of its own business that could result in a tie-up. Scripps, for its part, has seen its struggles mount in the competitive industry and is among the smallest of its peers.
In the filing, Sinclair said it has been engaged in “constructive” discussions regarding a deal and believes that, if it were to reach an agreement, a transaction could be completed within nine to 12 months.
Sinclair said in the filing that based on trading multiples, there would be an expected $300 million in synergies if a merger were to take place.
Scripps’ stock rose more than 40% on Monday while Sinclair’s stock was up 7%.
Sinclair, which acquired the stake for about $15.6 million, declined to comment beyond the SEC filing.
In a statement on Monday, Scripps said its board “will take all steps appropriate to protect the company and the company’s shareholders from the opportunistic actions of Sinclair or anyone else.”
“Scripps’ board of directors and management are focused on driving value for all of the company’s shareholders through the continued execution of its strategic plan,” the company said in its statement. “The board and management are aligned on doing only what is in the best interest of all of the company’s shareholders as well as its employees and the many communities and audiences it serves across the United States.”
The statement added that the board continues to evaluate “any transactions and other alternatives that would enhance the value of the company and would be in the best interest of all company shareholders.”
Broadcast TV station group owners have suffered like the rest of media companies in recent years due to the shift away from the traditional pay-TV bundles and toward streaming. These broadcast stations, for the most part, make the majority of their money from so-called retransmission fees, which are paid on a per-subscriber rate by traditional TV distributors.
Broadcast station owners like Sinclair have been eager to do mergers as they push for deregulation under the Trump administration.
In August, Nexstar Media Group, the biggest owner of these stations, agreed to acquire Tegna for $3.54 billion.
Sinclair, meanwhile, is also considering spinning off or splitting its ventures unit, which includes pay-TV network The Tennis Channel and marketing technology business Compulse, which was recently rebranded to Digital Remedy.
Sinclair and its advisors held discussions with potential merger partners earlier this year, CNBC previously reported.
Second-hand clothing platform Vinted is under investigation in France after some user accounts were found to be directing visitors to pornographic content.
France’s Children’s Rights Commissioner Sarah El-Haïry said she had asked watchdog Arcom to examine the allegations first reported in French media.
Vinted, which has 23 million users in France, has no age-verification procedure – meaning children and teenagers could have been exposed to pornographic material without having to show proof they were over 18.
In a statement, the Lithuania-based company said it had a “zero-tolerance policy regarding unsolicited communications of a sexual nature or the promotion of sexual services”.
“All inappropriate and illegal content is removed, and where necessary we take measures against users, including blocking them definitively from our site,” it was cited as saying by the AFP news agency.
Vinted is taking the situation “very seriously”, it added.
Reports first surfaced after some sellers showing photographs of swimwear or lingerie were found to be luring viewers to their personal pages on adult platforms such as OnlyFans.
“Predators have been using the sale of ordinary items of clothing to direct people to porn sites,” El-Haïry said.
France has recently issued warnings to other global e-commerce platforms, including Shein – headquartered in Singapore – after products including childlike sex dolls appeared in their marketing listings.
French officials say the case against Shein forms part of a wider investigation into other major e-commerce platforms accused of allowing illicit products to be sold online.
Paris prosecutors are examining whether Shein, AliExpress, Temu and Wish breached laws relating to violent, pornographic or “undignified” content accessible to minors.
Shein and AliExpress are also being investigated specifically over the alleged dissemination of child-related pornographic material. The cases have been referred to the Paris Office des Mineurs, which handles offences involving the protection of children.
Shein has already banned the sale of all sex dolls on its platform worldwide and says it is permanently blocking seller accounts linked to the items.
The French consumer watchdog, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control, said descriptions of the dolls left “little doubt as to their child-pornography nature”.
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