Natalie Hoberman

Natalie Hoberman covers high-end residential real estate and architecture for Forbes, with a focus on global luxury properties and the stories behind their design. She is a contributor to Forbes Global Properties and previously worked as an editor for the West Coast arm of The Real Deal. Across recent coverage, she writes detailed tours of major estates, destination pieces for international buyers, and architect-led features that connect design philosophy to property value.

Inside landmark homes and estates

Much of Hoberman’s work is structured as an immersive tour inside notable properties, using a single listing to illustrate how architecture, landscape, and amenities come together at the very top of the market. In her piece on a $53 million Beverly Hills mansion touted as having L.A.’s biggest closet, she frames the home through its standout feature while still situating it within the broader luxury market. Her profile of a $15.5 million California country estate spanning 103 acres similarly moves from price and acreage into the character of the house and grounds, treating the property as both a residence and an interpretation of the classic English estate.

She extends this approach beyond the United States, co-authoring a look inside Hamburg’s most expensive Art Nouveau villa and examining how historic style, light, and setting shape the experience of the home. In a story on a $23 million Rio estate influenced by Roberto Burle Marx’s tropical modernism, she uses the property to show how landscape design and architectural heritage can be a central selling point rather than a backdrop.

Across these pieces, she consistently balances listing fundamentals - price, location, amenities - with narrative detail about how a space feels and what kind of life it is designed to support.

Architecture and design as a lens on property

Hoberman distinguishes her real estate coverage by treating architecture and design as primary lenses, not secondary flourishes.

As a Storied correspondent, she has sat down with architect Fran Silvestre to discuss his design philosophy and his vision for future affordable homes, exploring structure and form as the core of his projects rather than just their aesthetic. In a feature on public architecture in Australia, she organizes the narrative around five dimensions - climate, materiality, social structure, poetics, and power - to show how civic buildings reflect and shape the communities they serve.

Her coverage of the Burle Marx–inspired Rio estate similarly ties a high-price listing to a design lineage, tracing how tropical modernism and landscape architecture inform both the visual language of the home and its market positioning. Even in more traditional property tours, she highlights architectural choices and materials, describing how they interact with natural light and surroundings, as in the Hamburg villa piece that dwells on the relationship between light, shadows, and the building’s Art Nouveau character.

This design-forward perspective makes her stories useful for architects, designers, and developers who want coverage that engages seriously with the built environment, not just the headline price.

Global buyer destinations and relocation

Beyond individual homes, Hoberman writes about destinations and markets, especially where lifestyle, investment potential, and cross-border buyers intersect. In her coverage of the Croatian coast emerging as a prime target for global real estate buyers, she outlines the mix of factors - extensive Adriatic coastline, welcoming real estate regulations, and a reputation for safety - that are drawing investors and affluent homebuyers to the region. She breaks down how attention is concentrating on the Dalmatian Coast, from cities like Zadar to Dubrovnik and nearby islands favored by elite travelers, effectively mapping where international interest is flowing.

She also produces service-oriented pieces on relocation, explaining how to move to a new country and integrate with ease, and framing emigration as both a logistical and cultural project. These stories connect practical considerations - investment rules, safety, integration - with the aspirational side of owning or living in property abroad. Together with her high-end home tours, they position her beat at the intersection of global lifestyle, mobility, and real estate, speaking to readers who treat property decisions as part of a broader life strategy.

Background in real estate reporting and analysis

Hoberman’s current work is grounded in a background of real estate reporting and editorial leadership. Before joining Forbes Global Properties as a contributor, she worked as an editor for the West Coast arm of The Real Deal, overseeing coverage in one of the most complex and competitive property markets. Her reporting there included deep looks at major development projects such as Tejon Ranch, where she examined the backers and backstory behind efforts to build massive master-planned communities.

That experience shows up in her present-day work through an emphasis on who is behind a project, how a property fits into the surrounding market, and what larger development narratives it reflects.

In pieces like the Santa Ynez country estate profile, she notes how the property represents a premium offering within its regional market, not just a standalone luxury purchase. In destination coverage such as the Croatian coast story, she brings a measured, analytic tone to explaining why a region is gaining momentum with investors and second-home buyers.

Alongside her journalism, she works with architecture, design, and real estate brands to articulate what differentiates their projects, drawing on both marketing and editorial experience to help them tell more focused stories. That dual perspective - inside the industry and reporting on it - helps her surface narratives that matter to developers, architects, and high-end buyers while keeping her coverage grounded in clear, factual description.