It’s been one other 12 months of tough crusing in L.A.’s luxurious actual property sector.
Confronted with market-chilling headwinds — from the year-old “mansion tax” to stubbornly excessive rates of interest and scarce stock — most of the space’s high brokers noticed their numbers dip. However the 35 brokers beneath (chosen based on metrics that embrace whole gross sales quantity from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024; media visibility; and the wattage of their superstar clientele) have discovered a strategy to energy by way of the storm. “2024 was an unbelievable yr for the those that selected to be available in the market,” Carolwood’s Cooper Mount says.
“There have been struggles throughout the board. Nonetheless, consumers that had persistence and perseverance had been capable of safe a few of the nice offers that exist within the metropolis. On the flip facet, sellers that had A+ homes, in prime places, so long as they had been positioned appropriately, had been capable of take pleasure in record-setting gross sales costs.
” For all of the projected confidence, brokers agree the very best a part of 2024 is that it’s coming to an in depth. “As rates of interest proceed the downward trajectory into 2025,” predicts Sandro Dazzan of The Company, “we’ll see extra consumers which have been on the fence the previous two years begin to enter the market and make affords.” The Altman Brothers Staff Douglas Elliman “Work more durable than everybody else.
” That’s the motto of Josh, Matt and Heather Altman, stars of the truth sequence Million Greenback Itemizing Los Angeles, who had one other banner yr with greater than $1.1 billion in gross sales, setting information for Hancock Park and stylish Encino. Present notable listings embrace Oakley founder James Jannard’s $68 million Stonehenge-inspired concrete manse in Beverly Hills.
The trick to working with high-net-worth shoppers like Kendall Jenner, Justin Bieber, Tyler Perry and James Cameron? “Deal with them,” says Josh Altman, “such as you deal with everybody else.” Cindy Ambuehl Christie’s With $257 million in gross sales, Ambuehl continues to be a favourite of Hollywood insiders. The previous actress and mannequin’s notable latest transactions embrace Kendrick Lamar’s buy of a $40 million Brentwood property and the $8.
8 million sale of Mischa Barton’s house. Past her gross sales achievements, Ambuehl is also deeply dedicated to philanthropy, actively supporting organizations like Give Again Properties and P.S.
Arts. Present listings embrace Sugarfina’s Paul Kessler and Diana Derycz-Kessler’s $115 million European-inspired “Villa Del Amor” in Bel-Air. Santiago Arana The Company A mainstay on this listing, Arana clocked in at $39.
8 million this previous yr. He not too long ago made tabloid information since he holds the itemizing for Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s former marital house in Beverly Hills, now listed for $68 million. (He had beforehand offered Affleck’s Pacific Palisades house for $28.
5 million.) Arana’s philanthropic endeavors embrace working with Habitat for Humanity and Give Again Properties. Blair Chang The Company A second-generation agent, Chang has notched $100 million in gross sales this yr.
He repped the vendor of the Brentwood house snapped up by Formulation 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone for $30.5 million. He additionally held the itemizing on the $22.
5 million Hollywood Hills house bought by Powerball winner Edwin Castro and the post-split Brentwood property Ben Affleck bought for $20.5 million. Chang now holds the itemizing for Jonny Cat Litter heiress Joi Stephens’ $88 million Santa Barbara property.
“I do issues that others gained’t do and attempt to convey out the very best in everybody that I work with,” he says. Jordan Cohen Re/Max Cohen is now the No. 1 RE/Max agent worldwide and the highest agent in all of Ventura County.
With $300 million in gross sales final yr, he has represented quite a few off-market shoppers and bold-faced names together with Kaley Cuoco and Poison frontman Bret Michaels. Thirty-two years since he entered the occupation, Cohen continues to be palms on, regardless of how heady his work turns into. “I make use of two full-time assistants,” he says, “however I’m the one salesperson, so I deal with all showings, negotiations and closings.
” Chris Cortazzo Compass “I used to be born and raised in Malibu, so my connection to this group runs deep,” says the veteran agent, who has saved his hometown’s house values hovering, racking up greater than $501.3 million in gross sales there from summer time 2023 to summer time 2024. In March, he repped traders Mark Cirlin and Man Li-Yeh within the $38.
45 million sale of their Doug Burdge-designed ocean-front property. Sandro Dazzan The Company Amongst Dazzan’s $150 million price of gross sales final yr was the $61 million deal for The Edge, the primary providing at The Case, a nonetheless incomplete midcentury modern-inspired group excessive above the Malibu Colony Seashore. For 2025, Dazzan expects the market will solely get higher: “I anticipate a powerful market subsequent yr with growing costs as charges drop and extra consumers enter the market.
” Drew Fenton Carolwood Regardless of racking up practically half a billion {dollars} in gross sales previously yr, Carolwood CEO and co-founder Fenton is trying ahead to a extra affluent 2025. “We’re optimistic the market will enhance as charges go down,” he says. “High quality stock could be very scarce.
” This from a person who simply repped the vendor in a record-breaking $75 million deal at Level Dume and a $65 million sale in Beverly Hills. His present choices embrace the $137.5 million Aaron and Sweet Spelling property, Cher’s $75 million Malibu property and the legendary Conrad Hilton property, co-listed with a number of different high brokers on this listing and priced at a cool $195 million.
Josh Flagg Compass “2024 has been a terrific yr for me,” says the Million Greenback Itemizing Los Angeles star. And he’s received receipts: $300 million in gross sales, together with the most important single-family house in Pasadena, 2 Oak Knoll Terrace, and Judy Garland’s former house in Bel-Air. Subsequent yr is shaping up properly, too: He’s co-listing the most costly home available on the market in L.
A. County — Conrad Hilton’s former property within the coronary heart of Bel-Air. Sally Forster Jones Compass “After buying my first house and performing some beauty upgrades, I offered it for considerably more cash, which piqued my curiosity in actual property,” L.
A. luxurious houses icon Forster Jones remembers of her begin within the enterprise. “I then started investing and doing flips of a number of single-family residences.
That was a terrific inroad to getting my actual property license and sparked the beginning of my actual property profession.” Years later, Forster Jones’ shopper roster contains Markus Persson of Minecraft , Sweet Spelling and Chrissy Teigen and John Legend. She made $132 million in gross sales final yr and co-repped the vendor of Odin, the Encino property bought by DJ Zedd for $18.
4 million. Forster Jones additionally made waves in April when she teamed with fellow Compass mega-agent Tomer Fridman to kind Jones Fridman Worldwide. Tomer Fridman and Isidora Fridman Compass Tomer Fridman and his mom, Isidora, could have raked in additional than $145 million in gross sales this yr, however Tomer says luxurious actual property is about extra than simply making offers.
“I don’t really feel I do gross sales,” he says. “I’m extra of an adviser/advisor.” Along with his work for blue-chip shoppers —he’s the Kardashians’ go-to man and brokered the sale of Leah Remini’s Fryman Canyon Estates house, for instance — Fridman is an unique agent for the Rosewood Residences Beverly Hills, the resort model’s first residential challenge with penthouses promoting at $45 million and up.
Carl Gambino Gambino Group/Compass Gambino’s origin story is worthy of its personal film. After transferring to L.A.
, he grew to become a canine walker to make ends meet earlier than getting his actual property license. “I satisfied certainly one of my dog-walking shoppers to let me present him properties, and I ended up promoting him a 3-acre property in Bel-Air,” he remembers. Now, his roster contains Mark Wahlberg, Renée Zellweger, Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra, Mindy Kaling, Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz, and final yr he amassed greater than $355 million in gross sales.
An extended-ago shopper not too long ago known as him to promote her property. “She got here up in my telephone as her canine’s title,” he says. Ginger Glass Compass “My father informed me at a really younger age that the neatest factor an individual may do is to get an actual property license, which I did first in Nevada at 18 years previous,” remembers Glass, who can also be a licensed legal professional.
Twenty years later, she is an L.A. actual property legend, boasting shoppers together with Cameron Diaz and Kourtney Kardashian and $593 million in gross sales final yr.
Her standout offers over the previous 12 months embrace the sale of Alfred Hitchcock’s former Bel-Air house and a record-breaking $21.5 million sale of a up to date property within the unique Madison Membership in La Quinta. Eric Haskell The Company Initially an artwork vendor and furnishings designer, Haskell determined to dabble in actual property and ventured to ask a star shopper if he may promote certainly one of their properties.
“They agreed, and two weeks later, I had it beneath contract,” Haskell remembers. Final yr, he struck offers totaling $138.5 million, with shoppers together with Matt Damon, assorted Hemsworth brothers, Kristen Wiig and Cody Ko.
“2024 was an excellent alternative for a little bit of a reset,” Haskell notes. “As brokers, we needed to work more durable as demand declined.” Juliette Hohnen Douglas Elliman “I deal with each sale as if it had been my very own home,” says Hohnen, who offered $60 million in property final yr, together with the late Paul Reubens’ Pacific Palisades property for $3.
8 million. Hohnen sums up her promoting philosophy: “I attempt to work with solely lifelike consumers and sellers. We realtors stay and breathe the job seven days every week, and our high quality of life is set by the standard of the individuals we work with.
Life is simply too brief for poisonous time wasters.” Justin Paul Huchel Carolwood For Huchel, the highway to dominance within the luxurious market was paved with grit and low-cost Mexican meals. “Once I got here out to L.
A., I received a place working for some of the profitable brokers in Beverly Hills at the moment,” he remembers. “I used to be so broke that I used to order one taco and additional chips from Baja Recent every single day for lunch.
Once I lastly offered my first home for $1.1 million behind the Chateau Marmont, I felt like I had hit the lottery.” Huchel has come a good distance since, with gross sales of $112 million final yr, and shoppers together with Meghan Trainor, Harry Types, Lea Michele, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis and Carey Mulligan and Marcus Mumford.
Aaron Kirman (Staff of the Yr) Christie’s Worldwide Actual Property | Southern California No person has extra brokers (230), extra architecturally impressed properties (masterpieces by the likes of Craig Ellwood, Richard Neutra and Kelly Slater), extra well-known shoppers (Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj, to call a reported few) or makes greater gross sales ($2.08 billion final yr alone). However there’s extra to Christie’s Worldwide than peddling megamansions to ultra-rich celebrities.
They characterize unfamous one-percenters, too. “We deal with all shoppers equally, whether or not bold-faced names or not,” says president and CEO Kirman, who leads THR ’s Staff of the Yr. “We do it with perseverance, respect and willpower.
” David Kramer Hilton & Hyland “I used to be an econ main at Cal State Northridge with out course,” dealer Kramer remembers of his early years. “Then somebody prompt I think about actual property, and it simply clicked. In my last yr of faculty, I began promoting actual property and offered six homes in my first six months! I nonetheless preserve a Polaroid of the primary house I offered — a $120,000 single-family within the Valley — to an in depth buddy.
” Kramer has been racking up boffo gross sales ever since; $79 million throughout the previous 12 months alone. Linda Might Carolwood The queen of pedigree properties, Might boasts $152 million in gross sales between June 2023 and July 2024. Notable offers embrace the sale of Larry and Joan Flax’s Hollywood Deco Property in Beverly Park for $42.
5 million (Might repped either side). Present listings embrace Villa dei Fiori, available on the market for $150 million, and she or he counts James Burrows and Mel and Susan Geliebter amongst her high-profile shoppers. “Los Angeles is stuffed with thrilling houses which have such wealthy architectural historical past,” she says.
“The factor I like probably the most is discovering a home that I’ve by no means seen earlier than and discovering its excellent match.” Jade Mills Coldwell Banker “I began in actual property when my husband left me,” Mills remembers. “I labored on the Century Plaza Lodge within the foyer till I received my actual property license, after which I labored day and night time till I began closing escrows.
I’m nonetheless working from 6 a.m. to midnight!” It has positively paid off.
With $264 million in gross sales this yr and shoppers which have included Jennifer Aniston and Sylvester Stallone, Mills is among the many most industrious brokers on the town. She additionally finds time for philanthropy, serving on the board of governors at Cedars-Sinai. Cooper Mount Carolwood The Malibu native can’t think about promoting actual property wherever else.
“The forged of characters on this metropolis is second to none, the tradition is unbelievable, the historical past deep and the climate immaculate,” Mount says. “I can begin a morning by displaying seashore homes in Malibu steeped in Hollywood historical past, head to Bel-Air to indicate historic estates with tycoon pedigrees and finish in Los Feliz displaying editorial grade, world-renowned architectural houses. The place else are you able to do this?” Through the previous 12 months, he’s made $235 million in gross sales, boosting his profession whole to $800 million.
Marc Noah Sotheby’s If you happen to’re searching for one thing in, say, a hollowed-out volcano, Noah might be your man. He’s itemizing La Fin, a $130 million marquee property in Bel-Air generally described as a “Bond villain lair” (although the infinity pool comprises no sharks; not less than none are talked about in its Zillow itemizing). Final yr, Noah, who has been brokering in L.
A. for about twenty years, offered Kimora Lee Simmons’ Coldwater Canyon property for $16.5 million together with different large listings for a 12-month whole of $71.
5 million. Michael Nourmand + Rochelle Atlas Maize Nourmand & Associates Nourmand and Maize are identified for his or her roster of superstar shoppers, which incorporates Christina Ricci, Cheryl Hines, Forest Whitaker, January Jones and Joe Manganiello. With gross sales this yr of $129 million and a long time of expertise between them, they continue to be cautiously optimistic about the way forward for their enterprise, regardless of all of right this moment’s challenges.
“The market’s resilience and flexibility are outstanding,” notes Maize. Provides Nourmand, “I like Thomas Edison’s quote: ‘Genius is one p.c inspiration, 99 p.
c perspiration.’ ” David Supply Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices With $131 million in gross sales previously yr and 30-year profession gross sales of greater than $4.58 billion, Supply is certainly one of Berkshire Hathaway’s high brokers (No.
3 within the nation, actually). Famous for his lifelong skilled relationships, he’s constructed his enterprise totally on repeat shoppers and referrals. Jason Oppenheim The Oppenheim Group With the success of Promoting Sundown , Oppenheim has turn into some of the recognizable names in Los Angeles actual property.
This yr, he made the information — and located himself being quoted in The New Yorker — for itemizing Kanye West’s ocean-front house in Malibu. That’d be the one designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando that West stripped of its inside finishes. Powerful sale — it’s presently available on the market for $39 million — but when anyone can do it, it’s Oppenheim.
David Parnes and James Harris Bond Avenue Companions/Carolwood It’s been an enormous yr, with the Bond Avenue Companions becoming a member of Carolwood in February. Current standout offers embrace repping either side of the off-market sale of Robbie Williams’ property in Holmby Hills to Afterpay co-founder Nick Molnar for $67.5 million.
Different shoppers embrace Kevin Durant and Carey Mulligan and Marcus Mumford. Says Parnes, “We get to fulfill such a various vary of individuals, and that positively at all times retains it enjoyable.” Lea Porter The Beverly Hills Estates Her greatest deal this yr — or not less than the one which received probably the most consideration — was the sale (to an nameless purchaser) of Jennifer Lopez’s Bel-Air property for $33.
9 million. “The deal was intense,” she says. “The property had lots of deferred upkeep and had been available on the market for a very long time, [so] there was lots of backwards and forwards on credit and concessions.
However my shoppers love the property. It’s magical, all 8 acres of it.” Kurt Rappaport Westside Property Company The king of off-market gross sales, Rappaport now holds greater than $1 billion in listings, together with the legendary Casa Encantada with its staggering $195 million price ticket.
That’s nearly as a lot as he offered James Jannard’s Malibu compound for in June ($210 million, a California actual property document). Purchasers embrace Madonna, Ryan Seacrest, Tom Brady, Ellen DeGeneres and Brad Pitt. Complete gross sales the previous yr: $726 million.
Joyce Rey Coldwell Banker With yearly gross sales of $115 million and shoppers together with Lionel Richie, Taylor Hackford and Helen Mirren, Kendall Jenner, Taylor Swift and the Schwarzenegger household, Rey is aware of methods to preserve superstar shoppers blissful. “My fame for discretion, devotion to my shoppers’ greatest pursuits, plus a long time of information and expertise have been the one secrets and techniques to incomes the belief of ‘bold-faced’ shoppers!” she says. Marcy Roth Douglas Elliman Though she did a powerful $124 million in gross sales this yr, it was a mere $3.
2 million buy that made her probably the most headlines: the enduring Brady Bunch home in Studio Metropolis, purchased by artwork collector Tina Trahan. “This wasn’t a typical home transaction,” Roth says. “It was extra like shopping for a museum.
The within of the home was renovated to reflect the TV set, however it doesn’t have many of the trendy conveniences.” Heather T. Roy and Learka Bosnak Douglas Elliman Self-proclaimed “cool nerds,” the low-key, fun-loving and discreet Roy and Bosnak are a favourite of younger Hollywood, with $68 million in gross sales for the yr.
Persistently quirky, they love to inform the story of the time they offered the home used within the movie Nightmare on Elm Avenue and determined to lean into its legend. “Somebody from our crew dressed up like Freddy Krueger and popped into the photographs throughout photographs,” they recall. “We made the supply deadline midnight on Halloween, we gave out sweet, and we let individuals take photographs in entrance of the home throughout trick-or-treating.
” F. Ron Smith and David Berg Compass Smith & Berg Companions boast the best sale value YTD in Pacific Palisades this yr: a $32.3 million spec mansion.
That helped convey the yr’s whole to $390 million and lifelong gross sales to $6.8 billion. “We strategy our work with the identical dedication as we do our private relationships,” is how the companions describe their fashion.
“We make investments time, forge connections and embrace the enjoyment in our work, even when confronted with challenges.” Tracy Tutor Douglas Elliman This yr, Tutor and her crew represented a number of superstar shoppers — actress Insurgent Wilson, hotelier Grant King — and offered a few of L.A.
’s most noteworthy penthouses (on the West Hollywood Version), in addition to dealt with some important out-of-state offers (like two ranch estates within the distinguished Texas neighborhood that homes Taylor Sheridan’s Bosque Ranch). “L.A.
is in contrast to some other market on this planet,” says Tutor. “The personalities I work with are bigger than life — similar to me.” The Umansky Staff The Company They don’t simply play tremendous brokers on TV (or not less than they did, till Netflix canceled Shopping for Beverly Hills in August); they play them in actual life, too.
The Umansky Staff — founder and CEO Mauricio Umansky, Farrah Brittany, Eduardo Umansky and Sharon Umansky Benton — boasts a profession $5 billion in gross sales and $225 million simply this previous yr. “[The] mix of high-end residing and architectural innovation makes Los Angeles really particular,” says Mauricio. Branden and Rayni Williams The Beverly Hills Estates With $2 billion in gross sales previously yr, these companions in life and enterprise had one other nice yr, with marquee offers together with the sale of 1312 Ridgecrest Drive for $75 million and the Olson Kundig-designed 1301 Collingwood Place for $37.
4 million. “I hope that town of Los Angeles experiences a complete revitalization that addresses each its systemic challenges and enhances its distinctive strengths,” Branden says. “My objective is to see L.
A. return to its vibrant, thriving self.” This story first appeared within the Sept.
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