In the mid 1980s, Joel and his second wife, supermodel Christie Brinkley, paid an undisclosed amount for a 12-acre oceanfront property in Amagansett, New York. The estate comprised a large manor house with its own pool and garden, a three-bedroom guest house, a 1700s-era barn, and a second pool. The French Château–style residence proved to be a happy home for the musician for about two decades before he sold it to Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld for $32 million in 2000. At the time, the sale broke property records for the most expensive purchase in the area. “The Billy Joel sale was an emotional one: Jerry Seinfeld just wanted that house,” a realtor said at the time. After his purchase, Seinfeld had a baseball diamond installed and moved his extensive antique car collection into the 22-car garage.
Oyster Bay beachfront estate
Shortly after selling his Hamptons mansion to the Seinfelds, Joel picked up a beachfront estate in his hometown of Oyster Bay for $22.5 million in 2002. The 26-acre property, known as Middlesea, comprised several structures, including a 20,000-square-foot megamansion, a three-bedroom guest house, a four-bedroom gate house, two swimming pools (Joel reportedly had the indoor pool covered so that he could instead use it as a music room, according to the Wall Street Journal), a helipad, and a floating dock, and 2,000 feet of water frontage on Oyster Bay Harbor. The main mansion boasted a bowling alley, a wine cellar, a spa and salon area, and six fireplaces. Joel called the property home for the better part of two decades before putting it on the market for $49 million in spring 2023. By that point, the Grammy winner and his fourth wife, Alexis Roderick, were reportedly looking to spend more time in Florida. (Joel’s third marriage was to Food Network personality Katie Lee Biegel, from 2004 to 2009.)
Mediterranean-style Palm Beach mansion and town house
In 2015, Joel moved down south, snapping up a $22.1 million Mediterranean-style mansion near Palm Beach, Florida. The property comprises nine bedrooms and 11 bathrooms spread out across 13,300 square feet, including a guest house and staff quarters. Built in 2010, the property exudes over-the-top luxury, with a double-height foyer and two winding staircases with wrought iron banisters. Arches and marble pillars abound in the opulent home. Situated on one of Manalapan’s narrower barrier islands, the estate has views of the water on both its eastern and western ends, with a primary bedroom with its own private patio overlooking the pool. There is deeded ocean access and a dock. The musician first attempted to list the property for $31.9 million in 2018 to no avail. He bumped up the asking price to $64.9 million in 2022, but failed to find a buyer. Most recently, he slashed the price down by $10 million, to $54.9 million in early 2024. While trying to sell off the behemoth Palm Beach mansion, Joel quietly picked up a $9 million town house nearby in 2021.
Boca Raton estate
In early 2024, Joel reportedly picked up a $29 million estate in Boca Raton’s exclusive Sanctuary development. A deed filed at the end of January revealed that someone had purchased the 15,000-square-foot home, situated on a unique corner lot with more than 560 feet of water frontage. Security is of the utmost importance at the gated and guarded community, and it presently hosts less than 100 homes, with high-end amenities such as tennis courts, a recreation area, and a 23-slip marina.
East Hampton getaway
A few months later, the Grammy winner reportedly paid $10.7 million for an equestrian estate in East Hampton, just in time for the summer. The five-acre property also reportedly boasts a lily pond. “It’s down a long gated driveway on an unassuming East Hampton street that shares Alec Baldwin as a neighbor,” a source told the New York Post. “There has been a lot of activity on the property, fence building, landscaping, lots of vehicles.” Other celebrities who live in the area include Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Robert Downye Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, and Neil Patrick Harris.
