Prince Harry and Meghan Markle say they’re keeping their Montecito mansion as they relocate the family back to Britain, but a source in the Santa Barbara luxury real estate market told The Post there “have been rumblings” the couple will sell the property, adding that “every broker wants that listing.”
This comes as The Post can reveal that the property costs the former Royal couple a staggering $600,000-plus a year in mortgage payments and tax alone — a potential motivating factor for a sale.
Jason Streatfeild, a Douglas Elliman broker who represents the Santa Barbara and Montecito area separately told The Post deals of this size don’t always show up on the open market right away, either.
“Many times properties like this will trade off market with an NDA signed and all of the terms sealed until the property records at the county,” Streatfeild said.
“It’s very possible that they would be listing it, but I have a strong feeling that it’s already being discussed and shown,” Streatfeild speculated to The Post.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are moving to the UK this month with Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, ending a six-year run in California that began when they stepped back from royal duties in 2020.
The children are set to start school in Britain in September, and the couple plans to set up a new, private residence there, its location being kept under wraps.
King Charles was informed of the move over the weekend. Harry and Meghan have said they intend to hold onto both the Montecito estate and their vacation property in Portugal rather than sell either, but the numbers on the California house make that pledge look shaky.
Santa Barbara County records show the Sussexes’ company, Rockbridge LLC, bought the 7.38-acre estate for $14.65 million on June 9, 2020.
Three days later, the company took out a $9.52 million loan from City National Bank. It’s an adjustable-rate mortgage, starting at 2.49 percent and capable of climbing as high as 7.49 percent once it resets in July 2030.
With no refinance on the books, The Post calculated that loan alone runs somewhere between $40,000 and $43,000 a month on a standard 30-year term. That’s north of $480,000 a year before taxes, insurance or a single gardener gets paid, on a house the family is about to visit far less often.
Santa Barbara County isn’t cheap either. The estate’s 2025 property tax bill came to $149,668, on an assessed value of $14.38 million — a number that ticks up nearly every year under California’s Prop 13 rules.
County tax history obtained by The Post shows the bill climbing every year the Sussexes have owned the home, from $138,629 in 2021-2022 to $141,645, then $144,229, then $146,930, before landing at this year’s $149,668.
Add those five years together and Harry and Meghan have paid out roughly $721,000 in property taxes alone since the assessment settled at their purchase price, on top of everything else the mortgage already costs them.
Then add insurance, groundskeeping across nearly eight acres and the family’s security detail, and the fixed cost of owning the place likely clears well over $650,000 a year before anything else.
That’s a hefty number to carry even by Hollywood standards, and Harry and Meghan’s Hollywood income has been getting harder to come by, alongside the eight-figure sum he might have to pay out to a British newspaper company after he lost his legal case against them.
“I cannot imagine ever wanting to let go of this beautiful piece of property, but hanging onto it comes at a steep cost, so they might have to,” the source said.
“It likely will be a few months before they list, or maybe they will give the UK a year first to see how that plays out,” the source added. “But if they do decide to plant roots in the UK, I don’t see a world where they will keep this home.”
Streatfeild meanwhile, said he’s fielded plenty of questions about what the estate would actually fetch on the open market.
“Everyone’s kind of asked me what I think the property is worth, what they would list it for and what it would sell for,” Streatfeild told The Post. “It’s a beautiful ocean view estate on seven acres with about 18,000 square feet. Nine bedrooms and 17 bathrooms, with the pool, tennis court, and beautiful grounds.”
“In Montecito, there’s been three sales this year above $50 million,” Streatfeild said. “So I would expect a home like this to be listed in the range of $75 million. And I would expect it to sell somewhere between $65 and $55 million based on what it has to offer in its location.”
The home’s history makes the couple’s timing look especially fortunate in hindsight.
“When they purchased it for $14.7 million in 2020, it had been on the market for five years and was originally listed for $34.5 million in 2015,” Streatfeild said.
“The demand for Montecito has exploded and the average sales price is just about doubled since they purchased the property,” Streatfeild added. “I would think they have advisors that would let them know approximately what the home is worth.”
“By comparison, Adam Levine’s property sold for $60 million, and it’s 13,000 square feet on three acres, and this is 18,000 feet on seven acres,” he said.
Their Netflix documentary “Cookie Queens,” which Meghan personally promoted ahead of its release, opened to between $328,000 and $354,000 at the box office, trailing “CatVideoFest 2026,” a compilation of cat videos playing in a third as many theaters.
The couple’s five-year, $100 million production deal with Netflix also wound down without a full renewal, replaced by a smaller first-look arrangement.
Meghan’s As Ever lifestyle brand has its own crisis brewing. A website glitch in January reportedly revealed roughly 650,000 unsold units sitting in inventory, and insiders have estimated the potential write-off on unsold jam alone at around $5 million once the perishable stock passes its sell-by date.
Reps for the Sussexes did not respond to a request for comment.
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