The $300m+ worth of real estate owned by Bill and Melinda Gates

More than $300 million worth of real estate is on the line following the announcement Bill and Melinda Gates will divorce.

The couple, who married in 1994, is currently worth $US145.8 billion ($187.9 billion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, 65, is the fourth-richest person in the world.

Their shock split will be the biggest divorce since Jeff Bezos, and MacKenzie Scott announced their separation in 2019.

Their empire features a fleet of cars, including a rare $US2 million Porsche; an art collection that includes the $US30 million Da Vinci Codex that Gates bought at auction; and a series of private jets, the Daily Mail reports.

Despite the couple having been at the helm of one of the largest philanthropy operations on the planet – the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given away more than $US50 billion – their fortune, not surprisingly, includes a string of luxury mansions totalling more than $US245 million.

The Gates family’s main home is a $US125 million lakefront mansion near Seattle, Washington and is so famous, it even has its own Wikipedia page.

Known as Xanadu 2.0, the sprawling  6131-square-metre home overlooks Lake Washington. It features seven bedrooms, 18 bathrooms, an indoor-outdoor pool with fossils and an underwater music system, a library with secret pivoting doors and an engraved Great Gatsby.

There is a dining room with seating for 24, and for larger gatherings, the 2300-square-foot (214-square-metre) reception hall can seat 150 people for dinner or 200 for a cocktail party.

Gates purchased the land in 1988 for $US2 million, the Daily Mail reports, but spent seven years building his dream home at a cost of $US63 million.

Guests at the property, according to Seattle Curbed, are given a pin to wear on arrival. Interaction with sensors will adjust the temperature, music and lighting depending on their preferences.

The home is now estimated to be worth $US125 million.

Apart from the Xanadu 2.0 mansion, the Gates also own a $US59 million ranch in Florida, and a $US9 million, 492-acre (199-hectare) ranch in Wyoming, purchased in 2009.

Called Irma Lake Lodge, the ranch was reportedly originally settled by Buffalo Bill in 1902 and named for his eldest daughter.

Aside from the five-bedroom, three-bathroom main house, there is also a guesthouse, caretaker’s house, a stable and a rustic hut in the middle of Irma Lake.

And just for kicks, the property is home to Buffalo Bill’s original three-room hunting cabin, reportedly not fit for habitation and kept in its original state.

The couple also has two homes in California: one a 228-acre estate that Gates purchased in 2014 from diet icon Jenny Craig for $US18 million; and another purchased only in April last year in Del Mar, near San Diego, for a whopping $US43 million.

That property, which boasts six bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms, as well as 36 metres of private ocean frontage with an oceanfront deck and a glass tile swimming pool, is considered to be one of the most prominent coastal beach homes on the west coast, according to Homes and Gardens.

In addition to his five homes, Gates has quietly built up a massive agriculture portfolio and is now the biggest private owner of farmland in the US, with 242,000 acres (98,000 hectares) across 18 different states.