Each Friday, Russ Anderson, the president and CEO of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty and the CEO of Pacific Sotheby's International Realty, writes about luxury, trends, business and more in the advertising pages of the Mansion section of The Wall Street Journal. Below is his letter of March 20, 2026.
FROM THE PRESIDENT'S P.O.V.
There is wealth — and then there is investable wealth. Liquid and transferable, investable wealth is easily deployed into new assets, such as luxury real estate.
Here is an eye-opener: There are 16 million people worldwide who hold at least $1 million each in investable wealth, according to Investable Assets of the Global Wealthy, a report published in December by research firm Altrata. Collectively these assets total $67.3 trillion.
That lines up with another phenomenon: Baby boomers are transferring their assets to Gen X, millennials and Gen Z in ever-greater numbers, with those younger generations expected to inherit $16 trillion in the next decade — the most significant wealth transfer in history.
The global footprint of Sotheby’s International Realty closely mirrors this wealth distribution. Take North America, where 7.4 million people have at least $1 million ready to invest, totaling $29.3 trillion, according to Altrata. North America is also home to 745 Sotheby’s International Realty affiliated offices — including ours, Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty — and more than 22,000 affiliated real estate advisors.
It is an exceptional time to invest in luxury real estate, especially in booming North Texas, which, as you may know, is poised to become the third-largest metro area in the nation in the 2030s. And if you love knowledge like I do, come explore the Luxury Lens posts on the Sotheby’s International Realty blog, Extraordinary Living, at sothebysrealty.com. You’ll learn what experts are saying about the market and how to use it all to your advantage — whether you are buying or selling or both.
Know this: If you have investable wealth, we have plenty of safe places to park it.
Russ Anderson
President and CEO, Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty
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