A 40-acre estate in the Hamptons - the Long Island summer retreat of New York's rich and famous - has been sold for $90m, a new US record for a residential property.
The New York Post today cited sources close to the deal as saying the purchase was made by a Swedish industrialist who has rented the estate for the past few summer seasons.
Owned by Adelaide de Menil Carpenter, heiress to the Schlumberger oil company fortune, the property's main residence is relatively modest - a three-bedroom, three-bath farmhouse.
The estate, however, includes a two-bedroom caretaker's house, two guest houses, several acres of tillable farmland, a fully stocked man-made fishing pond, a lap pool and, most importantly, a substantial stretch of private beachfront.
The sale nearly triples the previous Hamptons' record of $32m that 'Seinfeld' star Jerry Seinfeld paid for singer Billy Joel's mansion in 2000.
The Post said it also eclipsed the US record of just under $70m that New York billionaire Ronald Perelman paid for a mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, last year.
