The value of Mark Wahlberg’s $37 million mansion has skyrocketed. Here’s why

Actor-entrepreneur Mark Wahlberg paid $37 million last month for a fully furnished mansion in Delray Beach, Florida. The deal generated interest and coverage from TMZ in Architectural Digest, with the focus primarily on the celebrity buyer.

But aside from its name recognition, the skyrocketing price of the home over the past five years also sets it apart.

The actor’s October transaction marks the home’s fourth sale during the same period, and a dramatic 118% increase from its sale in January 2020, when the fully furnished mansion traded for $17 million.

The estate, located at 9200 Rockybrook Way, has seen a surge in value that has outpaced not only the local market, but most major luxury markets in America.

In Delray Beach, the average sales price of a luxury single-family home, represented by the top 10% of closed sales, increased by just over 78%; Los Angeles grew 30%; the Hamptons grew 44%; and Manhattan only grew 4.5% according to Elliman Report data from Q1 2020 to Q3 2025.

The sharp rise in home value even outperformed the S&P500which increased by approximately 100% over the same period.

Remarkably, the residence has changed hands four times since 2020. Only one real estate broker represented the listing in all four transactions, making the rising value of the seven-bedroom, 10-bathroom mansion even more unique.

In 2020, real estate broker Douglas Elliman 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 put the house up for sale again, when it sold for $26 million, a 53 percent increase in just three years.

A little more than a year after purchasing the home, public records show a trust is linked to William Cafaro, co-president of a commercial real estate development company in Niles, Ohio, and the home’s third resident decided to sell. Adzem was again the listing agent.

This transaction was more unusual. Cafaro sold the house as part of a larger $50.5 million deal to buy a Ferrari-inspired mansion less than a half-mile down the road from Stone Creek Ranch. Casa Maranello, as it is known, was being sold by local developer Aldo Stark, of Prestige Design Homes, with Adzem as the listing agent.

Cafaro paid for the new house with $24.5 million in cash, plus the deed to 9200 Rockybrook Way, which was valued in the transaction at the same price he paid for it: $26 million.

When that sale closed in January 2025, Stark became the mansion’s fourth owner and he immediately began a spectacular multi-million dollar renovation of the nearly 17,800 square foot mega-home. He ditched the old Sundara name and clad the house’s old plasterboard walls with rare polished stones and bright, bold Guyana wood from Brazil.

He installed vibrant green vegetation above a grand staircase and in the ceilings.

Stark completely reinvented everything, from the kitchen to the club room, and filled the residence with custom furniture.

And about two months after closing, the megahome was put up for sale for the fourth time.

Re-emerging with a new look, new name and new price, one of the few things to stay the same was that Adzem was once again the listing agent.

The home, now called Palazzo di Lago, debuted with an ambitious asking price of $45 million, $19 million more than Stark paid two months earlier and 165% more than it sold for in 2020.

In October, Adzem closed the fourth transaction and delivered the Palazzo di Lago to its fifth owner, who the buyer’s broker, Michael Costello of Compass, confirmed to CNBC was Mark Wahlberg.

According to Florida’s Multiple Listing Service, the fully furnished mansion closed at $37 million, $11 million more than Stark bought it for seven months earlier, and up 118% from its 2020 sale.

And Adzem achieved an unusual feat in real estate, selling the same house four times in five years for a total of $106 million.

Five owners over five years seems like an unusually high turnover rate, but Adzem has a simple explanation.

“People’s circumstances change and they go through different chapters in their lives, so we’ve had the privilege of being able to guide this house through different evolutions and different owners and be able to add value to it,” Adzem said.

According to Adzem, the mansion’s remarkable appreciation has been fueled by a multitude of factors. Here are the top five:

Adzem attributed much of the 54% price increase between 2020 and 2023 to the pandemic, which increased demand and prices for housing in South Florida.

“After Covid, our market definitely accelerated,” she told CNBC.

Some of the other market dynamics that drive 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 approximately 187 acres with 37 luxury homes each on approximately 2.5-acre lots. This is a tight supply whose prices have been significantly affected by a wave of new homes under construction that have traded at record prices. These recent comparisons have helped drive up the price of the Palazzo di Lago.

Even the price of land at Stone Creek Ranch is rising sharply. In 2013, the empty lot at 9200 Rockybrook Way traded for $800,000. In 2021, Adzem sold a comparable 2.5-acre plot of land for $1.7 million.

“The last transaction they made was for $6 million,” Adzem told CNBC. “However… there are no more vacant lots in this community.”

And Adzem believes that a three-fold increase in the price of land is only the beginning. She points to the fact that it’s hard to find 2.5-acre lots fit for a mega-home in Palm Beach County, and that dwindling supply in that particular neighborhood will drive land prices even higher.

“I feel like the dirt is going to double because the only potential sales coming would be teardowns.”

Another market driver: the small community’s growing list of VIP owners.

In 2021, billionaire hedge fund manager and New York Mets owner Steve Cohen purchased the house next door at 9200 Rockybrook Way for approximately $22 million, according to MLS.

“[Potential buyers] are usually looking to see who else owns in the community. It’s important to them,” Adzem said.

Rich and famous residents can create a halo effect and make nearby real estate more attractive to potential buyers. And there’s no shortage of high-net-worth neighbors living nearby, including several current 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 consider Walhberg’s new ownership adding to the community’s charm. Meanwhile, developer Aldo Stark just finished construction and recently moved into his own 32,000 square foot mansion.

High-net-worth buyers looking to escape their home state’s tax burden continue to view the tax benefits offered in Florida as a major drawcard, helping to drive and support demand.

“We’ve seen a large, continued influx of buyers from California, New York, Connecticut, and they want what you see here,” Adzem told CNBC.

Adzem also credited Stark’s renovation with adding value to the estate.

“He didn’t go neutral and he didn’t go for a very light color palette. He really wanted to make an impact and put his own taste here,” Adzem said.

Adzem and Stark would only characterize this expense as a “multimillion-dollar renovation,” so it’s unclear how much it took to transform a home built in 2017 into the new Palazzo di Lago.

But Adzem told CNBC that the dramatic renovation and new “James Bond-inspired vibe” were the final catalysts that brought in a buyer willing to pay a premium.

Correction: William Cafaro paid for the new house with $24.5 million in cash. A previous version of this story omitted the million.