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Malibu is really expensive

Published on 31 Comments on Malibu is really expensive

Silicon Valley mogul Marc Andreessen recently bought a wildly expensive piece of property in Malibu. Fine. Moguls gotta mogul. But what's up with this?

Records show the seller was Serge Azria, a fashion mogul behind clothing lines such as Joie and Equipment. He bought the seven-acre property for $41 million from late film producer Jerry Weintraub in 2013 and had been quietly shopping it around for $218 million.

Andreessen ended up bargaining Azria down to $177 million, but that's still a 330% appreciation over the course of eight years. wtf?

31 thoughts on “Malibu is really expensive”

    2. rrhersh

      Hence the rising prices. It is simple supply and demand. As land slides into the ocean, the supply is reduced. If you think this parcel was expensive, just imagine what the last bit to go will cost, five minutes before it disappears.

  2. rick_jones

    Well, unless one is going to neuter the California Coastal Commission or start filling-in the coast, or developing open space preserves, there is only so much Malibu to go around.

    1. Rattus Norvegicus

      Sounds like the town I live in. Housing prices have gone up by about 25% over the last year. I now curse every out of state license plate I see. Bastards.

  6. J. Frank Parnell

    More evidence we need a wealth tax. When Willey Sutton was asked why he robbed banks he replied, "Because that's where the money is". The same reason we need to tax the rich.

    1. colbatguano

      Exactly. There are too many billionaires out there bidding for top properties to show the others how rich they are. We need more tumbrels and lampposts.

  7. MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    Surprised Ayn Rand Fetishist Marc Andreesen hasn't teamed up with his fellow Eau Claire native mogul John Menard to set up a legal defense fund for the January 6, 2001, March on Washington political prisoners.

    I bet they could get Bon Iver to write a song for them.

      1. iamr4man

        I never saw the movie, but fun fact, my Dad managed a health club and Lou Ferrigno was a member. I saw him there several times.

  13. kaleberg

    This is an example of inflation, except that no one calls it that. When incomes rise, people compete for goods and services, so their prices rise as well. For 40 years, only incomes at the very top were rising significantly, so the prices of high end real estate like that in Malibu or Manhattan have gone through the roof. Now, thanks to COVID, we're seeing some income rising for other workers, so we're seeing inflation in mid-range and low-end goods as well.

    For the last 30 years, every time I heard that there was no inflation, I couldn't help laughing. Of course, there was inflation. It was just confined to the wealthy.

  15. golack

    It the IRS and other taxing authorities really went after money laundering, what would happen to high end property values?

  16. tigersharktoo

    I wonder what the accessed value will be for California property taxes?

    Some white shoe lawyer trying to convince the Tax Accesser he over paid?

    1. SecondLook

      It depends on how the property has been financially structured.
      One of the workarounds, to be very general about it, is to have the asset be owned by an LLC that never triggers a reassessment even if the LLC is sold. There are other tools available
      For example: Google leases land which has been owned by a family trust since the 1970s and is taxed at less than $800/acre. Said lease is on a leasehold that is good for 90+ years, with a lessee option to renew.

      Another reason why the vastly wealthy don't abandon California, the reality is that the rules favor them, and they love that view of the Pacific...

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