Celebrity mega-mansions are quite the sight, aren’t they? We look them up, spend hours marveling at how extravagant they are, wishing that we could afford half a home as what we see.

To be real, most of us don’t have $30 million lying around just to buy a fancy home. But some celebrities are so rich that they’re able to build a real-estate portfolio worth over $100 million! After all, if your net worth was as much as Jay-Z’s, or Taylor Swift’s, or Kim and Kanye’s, would you let anything stop you from owning the home of your dreams?

Taylor Swift started building her real estate empire at the age of 20, now at 30 she already owns four homes

Massive Mortgage

But while we love to appreciate these lavish mansions and over-the-top farmhouses, the one thing no one really ever considers is how much mortgage these wealthy homeowners have to pay for such acquisitions. Without a shadow of doubt, a high-end home will come with a massive mortgage! What would be your guess? A million? A couple of millions? More?

Not so long ago, most of these celebrities acquired their homes with cash. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. They are now looking for loans to fund their acquisitions, keeping the rest of their cash free for other viable investments.

The fact that these loans come with low interest rates makes the mortgage option very attractive to the wealthy folks, for whom it’s nothing but a small price to pay. In 2017, the power couple Jay and Bey bought a Bel-Air mansion for $88 million. Going by public records, the couple took out a $52.8 million mortgage from Goldman Sachs for the house.

In 2017, the power couple Jay and Bey bought a Bel-Air mansion for $88 million

Their initial interest rate sat at 3.4%, setting their monthly payments at just a little over $200,000. Considering that mortgage is paid after taxation, the couple would have to set aside a minimum of $400,000 pre-tax money every month. Annually, the couple has to part with $5 million to pay off their mortgage dues.

Ken Griffin’s mortgage is even bigger than the power couple’s. In 2016, the billionaire took out a $114 million mortgage via a company with limited liability. He actually took out two of them, with their total combining to $114 million for his Palm Beach mansion’s construction.

Ken Griffin took out a $114 million mortgage via a company with limited liability

What’s a $114 million mortgage for this billionaire? Daryl Katz, the Edmonton Oilers owner acquired an $85 million home in Malibu last year. For this, the businessman took out a $47.5 million mortgage from UBS Bank, to be repaid over 30 years. His monthly payments are over $200,000.

Tiny Fraction

These mega loans, to be frank, make up a tiny fraction of the entire mortgage market. However, major banks have admitted that the number keeps growing steadily each year, and they expect the trend to gain more momentum

As of September, last year, outstanding loans of sums between $10-$20 million in the United States were 233. Of these, 23% were taken out in 2017, and 16% of them had originated in 2018. California recorded the highest number of such loans, registering 123 of them. Florida had 40, while New York recorded 31.

Which banks do you think would be comfortable enough to issue such mega loans? The traditional banks of course. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and others use these loans to maintain these super wealthy guys as customers.