Jun 18, 2026
Celebrities like Drake may be having trouble sourcing buyers for their extravagant California estates, but that doesn’t mean America’s luxury realty market at large isn’t booming — the demands, and demographic, of wealthy buyers are just shifting.
Famed names, once a principal selling feature of a given property, no longer garner the interest they once did. Instead, increasingly younger buyers in the multi-million dollar market are more concerned with a home’s overall caliber, value and suitability to their own needs. And emerging as a growing trend among those needs are features that are particularly conducive to health and longevity.
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The wellness real estate industry echoes the public’s newfound obsession with optimizing one’s functionality and well-being. From DIY biohackers injecting themselves with grey-market peptides and gene editing formulas to those aiming to make a “sport out of health” through stringent sleep, exercise, diet and therapeutic protocols, the trend is now considered mainstream.
Though the cutting-edge is still essentially reserved to the ultra-rich, buyers across price ranges and ages are increasingly seeking properties that take wellness into account, especially as they age.
Per Sotheby’s International Realty’s 2026 Mid-Year Luxury Outlook, the interest in wellness real estate — which usually comes at a 10% to 25% higher price point than a standard luxury home — has more than doubled in the last five years.
“As the longevity and wellness industry continues to thrive, luxury real estate stands at a compelling intersection between health and home,” the report reads. The market for longevity products and practices is expected to grow to a staggering $8 trillion by 2030, and wellness real estate, to $1.8 trillion by the same year.
What is wellness real estate?
It’s not just the standard gym spaces, spas and saunas that this echelon of buyers is seeking. It’s a thoughtful design that reimagines aging in place — and aging better.
This could look as simple as a single-level floorplan that mitigates fall risks and incorporates slip-resistant surfaces, has accessible bathrooms and lots of natural sunlight and is in a walkable area close to nature and conducive to a high quality of life.
Or, it could be a unit in a complex that boasts circadian lighting and other smart home devices, top-of-the-line air and water filtration systems, integrated telehealth services, advanced facilities such as cold plunge and red-light therapy rooms and more.
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“Many buyers in their late 50s, 60s and 70s aren’t downsizing or moving into senior housing,” the Sotheby’s report says. “Instead, they’re purchasing or staying in homes that allow them to live well for a very long time.”
The brokerage network notes that some 40% of its agents cite aging in place as a key concern of their recent buyers, who are more often looking for the amenities listed above.
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The best of the best for the highest bidders
For those with the cash, entire high-end wellness communities are becoming increasingly attractive, often fully-staffed and located in warm, coastal regions, like the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve in Mexico or Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula. These developments often emphasize not just the wellness aspect, but the community angle, as well, with programming that encompasses health, fitness and social connection.
“Many newer luxury buildings now feel more like living in a resort (…) this level of wellness is becoming standard in newer construction,” Sotheby’s experts say. “Such communities draw homebuyers seeking both a luxury lifestyle and longevity(…) [and] reflect a strategic recognition that wealthy homebuyers increasingly view their homes and communities as primary wellness assets.”
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Becky Robertson is a senior staff reporter with Moneywise and a lifelong writer. Along with years in the journalism industry at outlets such as blogTO and Quill & Quire, she's participated in writing residencies at the Banff Centre and Writing Workshops Paris. With 33 countries visited, she finds travel to be one of her greatest inspirations.
