Everyone knows home prices are high in Southern California.
It’s a reality that has prevented many people from owning a home, and it has become a challenge for businesses seeking to attract out-of-state talent and for companies looking to move their operations here.
Recent figures from price tracker CoreLogic show the region’s median price for June was $464,000, up 5 percent from $442,000 a year earlier. Median prices are significantly higher in some local cities, including Beverly Hills (nearly $2.9 million), Manhattan Beach ($2.5 million) and San Marino ($2.3 million).
But there’s another level of ultra-pricey homes in Southern California that is simply off the charts. These homes have astronomical price tags, a wealth of amenities and far more room than virtually anyone would ever need.
Point2Homes, an international real estate search portal, has released a list of the nation’s most expensive homes, and a house in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles landed in the No. 2 spot with a price tag of $150 million.
It plays second fiddle to a Florida estate just south of Palm Beach that’s listed at a whopping $195 million. But Southern California homes still accounted for five of the 10 most expensive houses on Point2Homes’ list.
Others Southland homes among the top 10 include:
• An estate on Lania Lane in Beverly Hills priced at $149 million.
• A home on North Hillcrest Road in Beverly Hills priced at $135 million.
• A home on East Valley Road in Santa Barbara priced at $125 million.
• A home on West Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles priced at $88 million.
The 38,000-square-foot Holmby Hills home at 302 N. Carolwood Dr. was once occupied by Barbra Streisand and has been home to Hollywood royalty for decades. It has 10 bedrooms, 20 bathrooms, a lounge, a wine room and a theater complex — not to mention a spa with an indoor waterfall and a lap pool, and steam/massage room. Nestled among the trees, the property also has a private hiking trail.
Another Beverly Hills home — dubbed the Palazzo di Amore — landed third on the list of the nation’s most expensive homes. It’s priced just below the Holmby Hills estate at $149 million, but it’s even bigger. With 53,000 square feet, the home is situated on 25 acres with 12 bedrooms and 23 bathrooms in addition to parking that can accommodate up to 150 cars and a guard house and guest house.
Additional perks include a theater, discotheque, bowling alley, wine cellar, vineyard, tennis court and an ocean view.
Joyce Rey, director of Previews International, the estates division of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Co., is the listing agent for the property.
“At this level … there are really no comparisons,” she said. “You are searching for a unique buyer.”
So who exactly is in the market for a $149 million home?
“Well, there are obviously people out there with a high net worth approaching $1 billion,” Rey said. “These are people who have homes around the world and they usually have large entourages. They need a support staff to take care of a home with that much square footage. You need a staff to run it. And many wealthy people have big families.”
Rey has spent more than four decades selling some of the nation’s most expensive homes and she’s set some records along the way.
“It’s a fascinating market,” she said. “Several times in my career I closed the highest priced home in the nation for that year. Many of these buyers come from Asia, the Middle East or Europe. It’s just people who have made a lot of money. It could be in entertainment, energy or communications.”
People may have money, but that’s not saying that all of these homes get snapped up quickly.
“When you have a home that’s priced at even $80 million to $100 million it could sit on the market for anywhere from three to 10 years before it sells,” said Christophe Choo, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker in Beverly Hills. “There are only about 2,500 people on the planet who can afford a home like that, and they’d have to want a residence in L.A. and also want to buy right now.”
Marti Gellens, a Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in San Diego, said homes can get pricey there as well, but nowhere near as pricey as in the greater Los Angeles area.
“The market up there is totally different to what we see down here,” she said. “Los Angeles is a lot easier to get to than San Diego if you are traveling by plane, so they get a much larger international flair than we do. Our high-end homes are more in the $5 million to $10 million range. The highest one on the market now is a home in La Jolla that’s listed at $14.6 million.”
Rey put the whole pricing issue in perspective.
“I’ve been in this business for over 40 years and when I started a $1 million sale was hot news,” she said. “I’ve just seen it escalate over the years. But real estate is a wonderful hedge against inflation. Many fortunes have been built on real estate.”
