New York City’s elite have long looked north of the city for more land, more house, and more bang for the buck.
Then there’s the buyer who can afford a $17 million entry point to the ultra-luxury threshold, defined as the top 10% of the market. Buyers on that level—celebrities, sports figures, founders of multibillion-dollar corporations—aren’t seeking value.
What they do want: loads of privacy, lots of land and multiple residences, cutting-edge home fitness centers and in-ground pools, easy access to the city, and a one-of-a-kind legacy property.
Purchase, NY, in Westchester County, with an eye-watering luxury home threshold of $17,310,000, offers all that and more.
“Purchase occupies a category of its own within Westchester and, arguably, the broader Hudson Valley,” notes Realtor.com® senior economist Anthony Smith.
With its Tudor-style estates, colonial revivals, and stone manors as the backdrop for a way of life built around Metro-North access, country clubs, and communities whose reputations were established generations ago, Westchester has been the premier address for New York’s professional class for more than a century.
The Lower Hudson comprises Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam counties, the three southernmost counties in the valley, and the most directly connected to the New York City metro, says a Realtor.com luxury report.
The proximity effect is evident in the data: Westchester, in particular, has pricing that sets it apart from the rest of the valley, with a luxury threshold of $2,874,400 in April 2026.
It’s here the wealthy come not for a beach retreat or a modern farmhouse, but the real deal—historically significant homes, many of them not reproducible under current building standards. Roughly 32% of Westchester’s active listings were built before 1950, more than double the national share.
But it’s Purchase that takes the crown for the priciest and most exclusive enclave of the Lower Valley, with sports stars and the glitterati following in the footsteps of old money such as the Rockefellers, whose famed Kykuit country estate is only 20 minutes away in Sleepy Hollow.
Purchase: Ultra high end Westchester
Purchase, a small and ultra-exclusive enclave in Harrison, close to the border of Connecticut, commands a premium for not only its grand, spacious homes (the ZIP code has a massive median home size of 9,505 square feet) and generous lot sizes, but its proximity to convenience with shopping in nearby White Plains and a 90-minute jaunt to Midtown Manhattan.
With a staggering median of $6,497,000 and a 90th percentile price point of $17,310,000, 9 of its 10 active listings are priced above $1 million.
“Purchase is not a market that generates volume,” says Smith. “It is defined by scarcity and the profile of the buyers it attracts: executives, legacy families, and buyers for whom the address itself carries weight.”
Brokers say that despite the peaceful feel of the hamlet, a major amenity is the nearby Westchester County Airport. The area tends to attract those who travel frequently for business, pleasure, or both. (A 2017 profile of Purchase noted the jarring sound of a plane disrupting the otherwise serene atmosphere.)
“If you’re an athlete or celebrity or somebody who does a lot of international travel, some of these homes are only five or six minutes away” from the airport, Louis Katsoris of Julia B. Fee/Sotheby’s International Realty tells Realtor.com.
The broker, who reps the most expensive listing in the enclave, the $30 million Arrow Hill estate built in 1927, ticks off other selling points: Purchase is less than 10 minutes to Rye, where one can swim in the Long Island Sound; there’s a plethora of exclusive golf clubs; and it shares the “municipal benefits” of the larger town of Harrison.
Arrow Hill, with its 41 acres of lush countryside, not only has a 14,000-plus square foot main residence and multiple guest residences, but several koi ponds and a “collection of exquisite garden statuary, elegant fountains, serenely crafted babbling brooks, ponds, and waterfalls as well as picturesque floral and English gardens.”
There’s also a series of underground rooms, one of which has been renovated into a sports facility, perfect for that professional athlete with a taste for historical grandeur. And given that this is Purchase, a sports figure may indeed end up as the new owner.
“At my high-end listings I get a lot of Yankees and Knicks players,” Wendy Alper of Julia B. Fee/Sotheby’s International Realty reveals to Realtor.com.
The Knicks have a training facility in nearby Tarrytown, a 20-minute drive away. And the airport makes it convenient for athletes to get to games.
Other notable denizens have included actress Drew Barrymore, “The View” host Sunny Hostin, and fashion designer Kenneth Cole. The designer has listed his seven-bedroom, 6.5-bath property for $15.9 million.
Alper reps one of the town’s few new luxury builds, a $12.4 million contemporary five-bedroom, 5.5-bath estate on 3.5 acres. Erected in 2022, the house boasts soaring double-height ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows. And unlike much of the area’s luxury stock, with its Old English and French influences, this house is all about the Japanese vibe, including a tea room and Zen garden.
And for that Knicks or Yankees player who might appreciate a “wabi-sabi sensibility,” the estate also comes with a “spectacular” gym.
Alper says most of her deals are cash buys, and at least half are never listed: “I do as many off-market deals as on.”
She notes that before the COVID-19 pandemic, her clients were good with “three blades of grass” and a quick walk downtown, but now they want sprawling multiacre estates where they can lavishly entertain friends and extended family.
“What people want are big, safe family compounds on big, lush, ultra-private properties,” she says. “Purchase has all that.”
