Where else would they park their wealth? Stock market is all imaginary money. Maybe gold/silver. But housing works as an easy way to park wealth in a tangible way that's guarded against inflation. This fact is probably also why housing prices keep going up.

1: Location saves time to do the stuff you want to be doing.

2: Space for activities, such as being able to host large parties, friends, family, etc..

3: Convenience and time saving from having a lot of things in-house: gym, pool, tennis courts, etc.

4: Security. When everyone knows who you are, they begin to make up excuses to get close to you and yours. Even if you don't want seclusion, you may be forced into it.

5: The people who you hang out with most have big mansions too - you want them to be just as comfortable visiting you as when you are when you visit them.

I used to ask myself the same question, but then I realized that for these people it doesn't matter how much they spend. When you are worth billions of dollars, the difference between spending $10M or $50M on your home Does Not Matter. You still have many other $M to spend on other things. It's perfectly rational for them to spend what seems like a large amount of money for an apparently small marginal improvement.

I don't know about Pichai in particular but whenever rich people do things that don't make sense the answer is usually tax avoidance or financial engineering.

If you have many shares concentrated in a particular company that you can't or don't want to sell for legal or tax reasons, you can borrow money to buy a house. As long as you service the interest you get a house without having to sell too many shares and trigger tax obligations.

Home loans are also nice because they are a form of leverage that is secured against an asset but is not subject to margin calls if the value of that asset falls.

You don't get to enjoy your single family home because you're at work all the time. The ultra-rich don't have that problem.

Are you referring to the Florida purchases mentioned in the article? There might be some hidden tax reasons for those.

Property appreciates over time. It's a cheat-code for more money, not a wasteful expense.

compare that behaviour with Warren Buffet or Charlie Munger. They wanted more money only to pursue their other interests. They succeeded in earning more money than imaginable.

have you ever been in one of these mansions? my hot take is people seriously underestimate how great being rich is, and how enjoyable some ocean side mansions are