Jay-Z and Beyoncé headline L.A.’s most expensive homes

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It hasn’t been quite the chart-topping year as was 2016 — when prices were sent into the stratosphere by two $100-million sales — but the upper crust of L.A.’s housing market continued to move at a healthy clip in 2017.

Beverly Hills and Santa Monica registered median sales prices that rank among the highest in the country, and coastal communities such as Malibu and Manhattan Beach saw price records reach new marks.

Of the 40-plus home sales of $20 million or more, there were seven deals north of $40 million and a pair in the high $80-million range, according to PropertyShark. Here’s a closer look at L.A. County’s biggest sales of the year.

$88 million — Bel-Air

Hip-hop power couple Jay-Z and Beyoncé, who have a long history with the Westside rental market, became new L.A. homeowners in August with the purchase of a newly built mansion on Cuesta Way.

The modern showplace sits behind walls and gates and comprises six structures with about 30,000 square feet of living space. Features of the monolithic-vibe compound include spa and wellness facilities, a media room and four outdoor swimming pools. The windows and pocketing glass walls are bulletproof.

Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s new home in Bel-Air has 30,000 square feet of living space, four pools and a wellness center.
Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s new home in Bel-Air has 30,000 square feet of living space, four pools and a wellness center. (Splash News)
Patios and terraces create an additional 10,000 square feet of outdoor living space. Also within 2 acres of grounds is a full basketball court.

The property, developed by Dean McKillen, was never publicly offered for sale but carried an asking price of $135 million, according to real estate sources.

$85 million — Malibu

Entertainment mogul David Geffen set a Malibu record in May with the sale of his oceanfront compound on Pacific Coast Highway. The off-market transaction is the most expensive sale historically in the city, records show, besting the previous high-water mark set four years ago at $74.5 million.

Sitting on Carbon Beach, a desirable stretch known for its wealthy homeowners, the estate previously made headlines when Geffen fought the California Coastal Commission over keeping closed the public beach access point that lies next to the compound.

It includes a main house, guesthouses and a pavilion/screening room. Gray shingles and white trim give an East Coast vibe to the exteriors. Outdoors are an oceanfront swimming pool and spa, lawns and a patio.

$69.9 million — Malibu

An investment group led by real estate developer Mauricio Oberfeld sold the former bluff-top home of Teodoro Nguema Obiang, son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, in a deal finalized off-market.

The investment group acquired the 16-acre compound a year ago for $33.5 million in cash after Obiang agreed to sell the property and other assets to settle charges of corruption and embezzlement alleged by federal prosecutors.

The 15,000-square-foot mansion, with six bedrooms and eight bathrooms, was renovated and quietly shopped at the beginning of the year. It sold to an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands, records show.

$65 million — Beverly Hills

The onetime home of late comedian and actor Danny Thomas, once listed for as much as $135 million, sold in February to business scion Evan Metropoulos in another deal finalized outside the Multiple Listing Service.

Sitting on 2 acres at the end of North Hillcrest Road, a stretch coveted by tech titans and billionaires, the sprawling estate takes sweeping city and canyon panoramas from all sides.

Hot Property | Former Danny Thomas estate
The former Danny Thomas estate in Beverly Hills has come on the market. (Berlyn Photography)

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The 11,880-square-foot house, built in 1970, boasts such gilded details as Baccarat chandeliers, gold-leaf ceilings and ornate tile work. A ballroom, a rotunda dining room, a media room, seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms are among the living spaces. Moorish arches feature prominently inside and out.

Metropoulos is the son of billionaire investor C. Dean Metropoulos and is a principal in his father’s company. His brother, Daren, bought the Playboy Mansion last year.

Aaron Kirman of John Aaroe Group was the listing agent.

$48 million — Malibu

Billionaire Larry Ellison struck an off-market deal in March to buy the Carbon Beach home of Lisette Ackerberg, widow of Minnesota developer Norman Ackerberg.

The 73-year-old co-founder of Oracle Corp. has long maintained a sizable footprint along this coveted portion of the Pacific Coast Highway, buying more than a dozen homes in the area over the last two decades.

His new house, built in contemporary style in 1986, is one of the few oceanfront homes in the area with a regulation tennis court.

Although details are scant, tax records show that the property has five bedrooms, seven bathrooms and more than 7,700 square feet of living space. Extensive decking, a swimming pool and spa, lawns and landscaping make up about half an acre of grounds.

$41 million — Bel-Air

In December, a property with ties to blockbuster filmmaker Michael Bay sold to billionaire real estate developer Jay Paul.

The roughly 1-acre site on Stradella Road is where Bay owned a modern mansion designed by Jack Warner, whose architectural firm worked on the Bel-Air Country Club. The “Transformers” producer sold the house in 2014 for $11.45 million, and it has since been renovated and expanded to 15,000 square feet, or about double its original 7,919-square-foot footprint.

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