Beyoncé and Jay-Z reportedly snapped up a $200 million oceanfront mansion in Malibu, an acquisition that appears to break the record for the most expensive home in California.
Described as “huge,” “simple,” and “echo,” the 40,000-square-foot modern mansion is said to include a pool and “water feature,” as well as an award-winning concrete driveway.
It was designed by renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando, a Pritzker Prize winner whose exposed concrete and glass homes have become status symbols for American superstars. Kim Kardashian announced earlier this spring that she’s working on a “dream project” with Ando, and in 2021, Kanye West reportedly purchased a relatively modest Malibu beachfront home designed by Ando for $57.3 million.
The home was reportedly purchased by Beyoncé and Jay-Z and commissioned by William and Maria Bell, art collectors and members of the family sitcom dynasty that created The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful. Maria Bell called the building “dazzling” and “spectral,” but told the Wall Street Journal, “It’s also a horrible idea to live in something that to many people might look like a monstrous structure.”
TMZ, which first reported the sale, said the original asking price for the property was $295 million, calling the final sale price of $200 million an “incredible bargain.”
New York City still holds the record for the most expensive home in the United States, a $238 million penthouse overlooking Central Park. But California has repeatedly broken its own records in recent years.
With its verdant slopes overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Malibu is an up-and-coming contender in the ultra-luxury real estate market in the United States. Its rise in the rankings as a favorite of the super-wealthy was fueled by decades of investment by tech tycoon Larry Ellison, according to The Wall Street Journal. Ellison, the fifth richest person in the world, owns an estimated 10 homes on what is now the billionaire’s Malibu Beach, according to the paper, as well as a string of business holdings. (Ellison also owns most of the Hawaiian island of Lanai.)
Billionaire tech executives and famous artists continue to drive up real estate prices in the city, unsuspecting of the multiple deadly wildfires that have battered the area in recent years, including the 2018 fire that destroyed multimillion-dollar mansions and left three dead. The median single-family home price in the city has more than doubled since 2016, to nearly $7 million. According to the magazine, some of Malibu’s new elite homeowners are bundling together multiple properties to build massive luxury complexes. WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum bought two adjacent properties for $187 million, while Marc Andreessen owns three different homes in Malibu with a total value of $255.5 million.
Beyoncé’s representative did not immediately comment on the reports of the mansion purchase. Kurt Rappaport, the Malibu-based Alpha agent who reportedly arranged the record-breaking $200 million sale, previously worked with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Ellen DeGeneres. He did not respond to requests for comment.
Social media commentators, meanwhile, focused on the star’s takeover, with the New York Post, a publication known for its skepticism of the “chiseball” California real estate aesthetic, highlighting comments comparing the mansion to a “WWII bunker” or an “empty mall”. Costco distribution. On Reddit, a thread about the mysterious property concluded, “The whole Malibu mansion looks like a superhero’s lair.”
