The Ultra-Rich Are Turning Their Homes Into Fortresses: ‘Moats, Bunkers, and $175,000 Guard Dogs’
High-price precautions once reserved for presidents and royalty are now mainstream in luxury mansions.
Security is the new obsession for the ultra-wealthy, according to the . A Scottsdale mansion on the market for $15 million features 32 AI-powered cameras, a 100-foot moat, sour orange trees with four-inch spikes, and a safe room with a 2,000-pound door. The front door alone has 13 deadbolts.
High-profile violence, such as the 2024 ambush killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and home robberies of Travis Kelce and Brad Pitt, has put the wealthy on edge. Roughly 45% of luxury homes sold in 2025 referenced privacy or security, up from 38% in 2024, according to Coldwell Banker.
Rich homeowners are shelling out between $100,000 and $1.5 million on security features that include bunkers and biometric scanners. Some are buying trained protection dogs for up to $175,000. In Florida, a condo hired a security firm that has protected U.S. presidents to design an AI-powered threat-detection system.
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Security is the new obsession for the ultra-wealthy, according to the . A Scottsdale mansion on the market for $15 million features 32 AI-powered cameras, a 100-foot moat, sour orange trees with four-inch spikes, and a safe room with a 2,000-pound door. The front door alone has 13 deadbolts.
High-profile violence, such as the 2024 ambush killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and home robberies of Travis Kelce and Brad Pitt, has put the wealthy on edge. Roughly 45% of luxury homes sold in 2025 referenced privacy or security, up from 38% in 2024, according to Coldwell Banker.
Rich homeowners are shelling out between $100,000 and $1.5 million on security features that include bunkers and biometric scanners. Some are buying trained protection dogs for up to $175,000. In Florida, a condo hired a security firm that has protected U.S. presidents to design an AI-powered threat-detection system.
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