It might not have been a banner year for sales of Orange County’s most expensive homes, but buyers continued to find big-ticket residences along the coast.
Sales of Orange County’s 25 most expensive homes did not bring in as much money in 2024 as they did in previous years. The county’s 25 most expensive homes sold last year for a combined nearly $575 million, according to this week’s list of Top Home Sales of 2024.
The total is down from the $624.7 million in sales volume for the 25 most expensive homes sold in 2023. Sales volume for Orange County’s top 25 homes peaked at a record $668 million in 2021 before dipping to $616.5 million in 2022.
A vast majority of houses – 18 – were in Newport Beach, Newport Coast or Corona del Mar.
Six of the seven remaining houses sold were in Laguna Beach. One house in Dana Point rounded out the Top 25. In the top 10, only two were in Newport Beach.
The minimum price to make the Top 25 list was $17.3 million, with 16 houses selling for $20 million or more.
Most of the deals occurred between May and September.
There were still several notable statistics to point out from last year’s numbers.
The three most expensive sales of 2024 were also less than the trio of big-ticket transactions of 2023. Last year’s top three sales were $38 million, $32.3 million and $31 million, compared to $43 million, $34 million and $32.3 million in 2023.
Data for this year’s ranking was provided by Land Advisors Organization, Multiple Listing Service, Homes.com, Redfin and Zillow.
Newport Beach Takes Top Spots
Four Orange County houses sold for $30 million or more in 2024 – and three of them were in the Newport Beach area.
Michelle Linovitz of Coldwell Banker Realty and Rex McKown of Compass were the agents on the sale of 20 Coastline in Crystal Cove, last year’s most expensive house at $38 million.
The brand-new 18,336-square-foot house features six bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a gym and wine cellar.
Also at the top of last year’s list was 6 Waves End, a 13,787-square-foot house also in Crystal Cove. The seven-bedroom, 9.5-bathroom estate features a center hall, foyer, guest or maid’s quarters, library, media room, barbecue area and pool.
20 Coastline and 6 Waves End were both built in 2024.
The other two houses that sold for $30 million or more were at 7 Montage Way in Laguna Beach and 308 Via Lido Soud on Lido Island.
The Outlook for 2025
Marcy Weinstein, an agent with Compass who represented the seller of 10 Fairway Point in Newport Beach, said it was a pretty slow market in 2023 and into 2024. Activity, however, picked up as the year progressed.
John Cain of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty represented the buyer and the seller of 11 Coral Ridge, which sold for $22.5 million in September, said he was “very bullish on the Orange County market.”
Most buyers were looking for new builds or recently renovated houses, Cain told the Business Journal.
He also said Newport Beach’s Crystal Cove specifically stood out last year as a market where luxury homebuyers were looking for their next purchase.
Cain said luxury home inventory is trending upwards but still not up to par with pre-pandemic levels.
But Cain also noted that Orange County has plenty of runway ahead of it, in terms of luxury home sales.
Livel Real Estate’s Meital Taub, who was on two of the top 25 deals, told the Business Journal that Orange County’s market for high-end houses is gaining momentum, with more buyers jumping into the fray and making lifestyle-driven decisions.
She added there were several international buyers scooping up expensive homes within the county, and, overall, there was an increase in inventory due to seller confidence.
Even with that momentum, though, Orange County’s luxury homes market is difficult to pin down and predict, since it operates on a micro-market level.
“Every house is very different and unique. It’s really hard to pinpoint,” Taub told the Business Journal, adding even within a small market like Crystal Cove, sales can be active or slow on a street-by-street basis.
Prices might also increase this year because the January fires in Los Angeles neighborhoods like Pacific Palisades and Altadena have caused homeowners to seek comparable neighborhoods along Orange County’s coast, real agents have said.
“We are already seeing buyers who were displaced by the fires making offers and they are very active at open houses. Many of those impacted are also looking for homes in the desert, those LA buyers see the desert and Orange County as great values compared to Los Angeles,” Sean Stanfield of Stanfield Real Estate told the Business Journal. “I would anticipate seeing more and more transactions with those impacted by the fires as the year goes on.”
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