Rick Wallace
Celebrity purchases highlighted 2007
In 1972, the median value of a home sale in Malibu was about $28,800. Last year, it reached $3 million. Thirty-five years ago, the median value in Malibu was about twice that of typical homes in Los Angeles County. After growing exponentially to triple in 1990, and then four times in 1997, the local median is now nearly six times that of the rest of the county, let alone the whole Southern California region.
Suffice it to say, Malibu real estate has had long-term success. The recent term, however, is a different story. Last year saw the fewest number of home sales since 1995. For most homes off the beach, values are clearly slipping. How low prices will go, and how long before they stabilize, may be revealed this year.
The very elite of Malibu’s marketplace, meanwhile, has been immune from nasty real estate trends. The year 2007 was the best year Malibu ever had in terms of most sales more than $5 million, 10 million, $20 million-and even $30 million. Celebrity purchases were an integral part of the sales list in a year when high-priced commercial deals were also part of the news.
After Malibu saw its first $30 million sale ever in 2006, above Serra Retreat, last year reportedly saw two such deals, both with celebrity connections.
A bluff estate on Point Dume and an architectural marvel on Carbon Beach were both heavily speculated at about $33 million sale prices (the latter appeared in public records recently at $27 million). Notable public names were on both sides of the Carbon deal, which had last sold in 2001 for just over $10 million. Both estates had each set sales records the one time they had previously sold. The Point Dume compound of a major star who had died included a separate two-acre property specifically laid out as a private tennis club with grass court and pavilion.
A mega-star sold her Serra Retreat estate in 2007 for $10 million, according to public records. It had last been purchased for about $6 million four years ago. The most striking feature of the property, gated on an acre and a half, was a large lagoon-style pool with swim-up wet bar island and surrounding slides.
Another well-known celebrity bought a property on Point Dume for about $10 million, though it lacked an ocean view or direct beach access. The house was not listed at the time. The sale indicates the rising overall values on Point Dume, especially in the cul-de-sac locations near the private beach gates. Another very famous celebrity made a similar purchase of such a property, at a similar price, in 2006.
Even though total sales in Malibu during 2007 were down slightly from 2006 and very low historically, sales more than $5 million numbered 45 compared to 41 in 2006. There were a mind-numbing 21 sales that topped $10 million (only 15 in 2006).
Four transactions topped $20 million. One, also involving a property of a long-time major TV star who has since died, was a Broad Beach estate on 123 feet of sand. You don’t find such wide beachfronts very often. The deal was likely in the $25 million ballpark, though there is no record of the exact price with any source.
One other home sale on Broad Beach topped $20 million, approximately $10 million more than its previous sale in 2005.
The celebrity couple that sold their house on Carbon Beach bought a secluded estate on the Paradise Cove bluffs for about $17 million.
On Winding Way, a major knoll-top estate sold in 2007 for more than $10 million. The house has nine bedrooms and the property sits on five acres, including a separate parcel with a house on it. It was the long-time home of another local celebrity, and it also went for a much higher price than its last sale of recent years.
Neighborhoods that saw $5 million sales, and in some cases several of them, included the Saddle Peak ridge, Broad Beach bluffs, Malibu Cove Colony, Sea Level, Serra Retreat, Malibu Park, Latigo Canyon and Sea Vista.
Such is the trend with the premium properties in Malibu. They keep going up. They pulled both the average sale price up for Malibu in 2007 to about $4.8 million, as well as the median. So even as the standard Malibu home struggles to find a buyer, neighboring estates with ever increasing sale prices lend some hope for better days in years to come when perhaps the local median may top the Los Angeles County figure by a factor of eight or 10.
Rick Wallace of the Coldwell Banker company has been a Realtor in Malibu for 20 years. He can be reached at his web site, www.RICKMALIBUrealestate.com