Malibu leads America’s ultra-luxury real estate market with its sheer green cliffs facing the Pacific Ocean. In recent weeks, Beyoncé and Jay-Z bought a 40,000-square-foot oceanfront mansion in the coastal enclave, solidifying its climb in the suρer-rich’s favorite destinations.
Pritzker Prize-winning architect Ando’s open concrete and glass mansions have become status symbols for American celebrities. Kim Kardashian revealed this spring that she was working on a “dream project” with Ando, and Kanye West bought a small beachside Malibu mansion built by Ando for $57.3m in 2021.
William and Maria Bell, art collectors and members of the soap opera dynasty that founded The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful, commissioned the home. Maria Bell called the building “dazzling” and “spectacular” but told the Wall Street Journal: “It’s also a daunting idea to live in something that can seem to many people like a Brutalist structure.”
The house was listed for $295m, thus TMZ called the $200m sale a “unbelievable deal”.
A $238m Central Park penthouse residence in New York City is the most expensive US dwelling. But California has been smashing its own records lately.
Larry Ellison’s decades of investing helped Malibu become a luxury real estate hub, according to the Wall Street Journal. The publication reported that Ellison, the fifth wealthiest person in the world, owns 10 residences on Malibu’s Billionaire’s Beach and several business properties. Ellison owns much of Lanai, Hawaii.
Billionaire tech executives and celebrity musicians are pushing up real estate values in the area, despite repeated fatal wildfires, including a 2018 fire that destroyed multimillion $ residences and killed three people. Single-family house median prices in the city have more than doubled since 2016, to roughly $7m. According to the Journal, Malibu’s new wealthy homeowners are combining homes to form mega-luxury complexes. WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum bought two contiguous residences for $187m, while Marc Andreessen owns three Malibu mansions at $255.5m.
A Beyoncé spokesman did not immediately address the mansion acquisition allegations. The Malibu “alpha agent” who handled the record-breаking $200m sale, Kurt Rappaport, has worked with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Ellen DeGeneres. He refused comment.
Social media users have compared the stars’ property to a “WWII bunker” or “an empty Costco distribution center”, with the New York Post, known for its criticism of California “cheeseball” real estate aesthetics, emphasizing remarks. A Reddit thread about the unidentified home concluded that “every Malibu mansion looks like a supervillain lair”.
