A beachfront home in the Laguna Beach enclave of Emerald Bay has quietly sold for $110 million, the highest price in Orange County history.
It’s a market-shattering deal — redefining what a house can sell for in Orange County, which has a higher median home price than LA County but never reached the mind-boggling nine figures of communities like Beverly Hills or Malibu. The previous high was elsewhere in Laguna Beach traded hands for 70 million dollars in 2021.
The reason for the steep price tag? Perhaps the most private house on one of the few private beaches in California.
Under the law, California beaches must be public. But Emerald Bay is guarded by a gate, accessible only to residents, and its half-mile stretch of golden sand is surrounded by two steep cliffs, cutting off public access to other beaches.
“It’s a one-stop shop,” said the Agency’s John Stanaland, who handled both ends of the deal.
Stanaland said the steep property itself will sell for $40 million to $50 million. Add in construction costs of about $5,000 per square foot for about 10,000 square feet, and the price makes sense.
The house has never officially gone on the market, so details are not available. The last time the property was sold was in 2012, when it came on the market as a vacant lot asking $35 million.
Aerial photos show the contemporary-style home has five floors, with four levels of balconies and a pool overlooking the beach below. It was built in 2021 by the developer as a family home, Stanaland said.
The identity of the buyer and seller is unclear. Property records show it was sold by a limited liability company called Faith 5 and bought by a limited liability company called Dlareme — “emerald” backwards.
Stanaland told The Real Deal, which first reported the sale, that both the buyer and the seller are “very complicated.”
Laguna Beach has come a long way from its roots as a bohemian artists’ colony in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when artists like Isaac Frazee flocked there to paint pastels of the beach’s cliffs and surf. Today, the resort town is consistently ranked as one of the most expensive in Southern California with median home price more than three million dollars.
“I grew up here, it was a mixed, creative, organized city,” said Stanaland, who has been selling in this area for 30 years. “Montage [hotel] it opened in the early 2000s, and that changed the dynamics of the community. We saw a lot of money coming in and notoriety.”
It is unclear whether the record-setting sale is a one-time price for a one-of-a-kind property, or a markup. migration of wealth from LA to Orange County. The luxury market tends to be in the upper $30-million to $40-million range in Orange County, although some properties are trending higher, including a ranch in San Juan Capistrano. asking $85 million and an 11,500-square-foot house in Newport Coast listed for $68 million.
“I think you’re going to see more sales like this,” Stanaland said. “Buyers from all over the country – especially Texas, Vegas, Arizona and LA – are at home in Orange County.”
