Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.
Elon Musk is worth close to half a trillion dollars. But long before Tesla shareholders approved a historic pay package that could make him the world’s first trillionaire, the billionaire tech CEO was actively shedding his real estate—and his image as a man of excess.
In May 2020, Musk posted on X that he was “selling almost all physical possessions” and would “own no house.” Just hours later, he followed up: “Just one stipulation on sale: I own Gene Wilder’s old house. It cannot be torn down or lose any of its soul.”
Don’t Miss:
By December of that year, he was already addressing the decision publicly. Speaking with Business Insider, Musk explained the motivation behind his sell-off. “People will attack me and say, ‘Oh, he’s got all these possessions. He’s got all these houses.’ OK, now I don’t have them anymore,” he said.
By mid-2021, he confirmed he had followed through. In response to a question on X asking if he’d downsized as planned, Musk replied, “Yeah, sold my houses, except for 1 in Bay Area that’s rented out for events.” That same day, he offered a look at his current living situation, writing: “My primary home is literally a ~$50K house in Boca Chica/Starbase that I rent from SpaceX. It’s kinda awesome though.”
That modest home—a three-bedroom, ranch-style unit on a grassy street just outside SpaceX’s Starbase facility—has remained his legal residence. When he voted in the 2024 presidential election, Musk posted, “Just voted in Cameron County, Texas, home of Starbase!”
Trending: From Moxy Hotels to $12B in Real Estate — The Firm Behind NYC’s Trendiest Properties Is Letting Individual Investors In.
Despite all that, reports about secret megamansions and sprawling compounds haven’t let up. In October 2024, The New York Times reported that Musk had acquired three properties near Austin totaling $35 million to build a private complex for his 11 children and their mothers. The newspaper quoted people familiar with plan as saying that Musk believed the setup would allow the kids to “be a part of one another’s lives” and help him schedule time among them.
Musk denied the story. “I don’t own, nor am I building a compound in Austin,” he told Page Six. “No grand family compound/home has been built or is expected to be built.”