Drake has always felt something special about space. Not outer space, though the name of a private jet worth $185 million, Air Drake, might be a bit of a stretch, but real space. Size in square feet. Land. The kind of property that makes you prove it, not just say you did it. When you look at Drake’s current real estate holdings, which are spread out between Toronto, Beverly Hills, and the country in Texas, it’s clear that buying homes for him is less about shelter and more about starting over in his personal life.
Drake’s most valuable piece of real estate is in the Bridle Path neighborhood of Toronto, which is north of the city and has a mix of old and new wealth. In April 2015, he paid $6.75 million for the land, which seemed like a lot for an empty lot at the time. It’s hard to explain what went up on it. The Embassy is a 50,000-square-foot building that was designed with the help of Canadian architect Ferris Rafauli. It has a style that is a mix of Beaux-Arts and something more personal and theatrical. Since it was on the cover of Architectural Digest in 2020, you can pretty much say that it’s a real house.
As you enter the hall, you’ll see floors made of solid limestone with Nero Marquina marble accents and an antique mirror ceiling with many faces. A chandelier made of more than 20,000 hand-cut Swarovski crystals hangs in the great room. It is said to be the second largest of its kind in the world. There’s also a Bösendorfer concert grand piano that was designed with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. This is the kind of detail that only makes sense if you understand that this house isn’t really meant to be lived in quietly.
The amenities go further than almost any private home in North America. A real NBA basketball court with a pyramid-shaped skylight above it. A swimming pool inside that is completely covered in black granite. It’s a recording studio that looks like the private club Annabel’s in London and the swinging studios of the 1970s. The main suite is 3,200 square feet and has a covered terrace that is an extra 1,100 square feet. The tub is made of black marble and weighs 4,000 pounds. The closet is two stories tall and has amethyst hardware and diamond-tufted shearling seating. There may not be a private home in Canada that is as nice as this one.
What Drake did in Texas is newer and, in some ways, more surprising in his real estate story. In Houston in 2023, he told the crowd that he had finally found the right place outside of Toronto after years of looking. If you hear that kind of announcement, you might think of a live performance, but he did it. He is said to have paid $15 million for a 313-acre ranch in Brenham, a small town about an hour outside of Houston, in May 2024. Before Drake bought it, the property, which used to be called Dos Brisas, was a high-end resort. It has facilities for horses, which is an interesting purchase for someone who reportedly kept a mechanical bull at a previous home in Hidden Hills but no real horses.
He owns a home in Beverly Hills, which adds to the picture. At different times, the asking price was said to be more than $80 million, making it one of the more expensive homes for sale in an area that is known for having high prices. Drake has been known to change his mind and relist, which is a common thing to do in that market. However, it does make people wonder about his long-term plans.
When you look at it all together, Drake’s choices in real estate seem to be driven by the same instinct that drives his music: leave something behind that people will talk about. The Embassy by itself could fill a documentary. The Texas ranch means something different, like a slower speed or a place to get away from the machine in peace. It’s a whole different question if that’s how he actually uses it. But the portfolio, no matter what it means to him personally, is a truly unique collection of properties that feel less like investments and more like chapters.
