Luxury Homes for Sale in California

Find the latest luxury properties for sale in California. Browse all luxury real estate listings or refine your search by MLS number or use the map. We can provide you with disclosures, past sales history, dates, and prices of recently sold luxury homes nearby.

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California Luxury Listings

California Luxury Home Prices

As a rule of thumb, properties priced in the top 10% of their market are considered luxury homes. In some markets in the United States, local norms may generously include the top 25% of the market. But that expansive definition is problematic because it creates more exceptions, such as teardowns located in a great location. To keep it simple, let’s stick with the top 10% rule.

We also want to eliminate the notion that luxury is a specific price point. For example, in certain Los Angeles neighborhoods it is possible for a home to worth a couple million dollars to not be considered a luxury home. Compare that to a city like Cincinnati, where a residence sold at a fraction of that price is considered extremely luxurious. Clearly, defining a luxury home based solely on price is not feasible.

An Overused Term?

Realtors who market properties often choose a loose definition of the word “luxury,” which muddies the waters even further. This is partly because everyone wants to live in a luxury home, and aspirational marketing is somewhat expected in the real estate industry. Using superlative language in real estate listing descriptions (also called puffery) is not illegal or necessarily unethical behavior for real estate agents. The same goes for how agents talk with others about properties.

Luxury real estate is also defined by other aspects of a home like amenities, location, exclusivity, prestige, and quality.

Luxury Home Quality

A luxury home should not look like a cookie-cutter or mass-produced home on the inside or outside. Luxury home builders understand they are targeting sophisticated and savvy buyers who have extremely high standards. In the Pacific Northwest, most luxury homes are referred to as “custom homes” to connote the difference between undifferentiated mass-produced homes and those that were designed by an architect to be unique and then built by a high-caliber, reputable local builder.

Luxury Home Amenities

Luxury home interiors should be well-appointed with premium furniture from prestigious brands. Owners often hire interior decorators to generate thematic cohesion and complete the look. Exterior features of a home also play a significant role in determining whether it is considered luxurious. With amenities, the sky is truly the limit. Here a few, both inside and out:

• Swimming pools, particularly if they’re heated, saltwater, or are infinity swimming pools
• Gourmet kitchens
• Smart homes with integrated technology
• Outdoor kitchens
• Game rooms and movie theaters
• Spa bathrooms
• Exercise rooms
• Walk-in, oversized closets

Luxury condo buildings can offer their own unique amenities, albeit shared with other residents:

• Rooftop decks with skyline views
• 24/7 valet and concierge service
• Spa services
• Yoga studios
• Residents-only restaurants
• Temperature-controlled wine cellars

Luxury Neighborhoods

Prime Location

A home could be considered luxurious solely by being located in a great location.

Take, for example, homes that are adjacent to shopping centers. For some buyers, it’s the metropolitan “everything is close” lifestyle that is most compelling. On the other end of the spectrum is the desire to connect with nature and beachfront properties in California are for home shoppers with the deepest pockets.

Another example is equestrian properties, which feature ranch homes situated on serene multi-acre parcels. Thus, the lifestyle a home promulgates can make it a luxury home.

Famous addresses can also add to the marketability of a home as a luxury property, like 5th Avenue and Central Park South in Manhattan or Kensington Palace Gardens in London. Even zip codes can make a difference. For example, the homes on the Santa Monica Mountains above Beverly Hills are technically within the city limits of Los Angeles, but street addresses bear the 90210 zip code because they are served by the Beverly Hills Post Office. Properties here are always marketed as Beverly Hills homes for sale.

Views

Some buyers consider a home with a view as inherently luxurious. This can be especially true for houses in markets known for their flat topographies, like Dallas and Chicago, where homes with views are much less common than in cities with hilly topographies like Los Angeles and San Francisco. In California ocean view homes command top dollar.

Privacy

Privacy is another important consideration for man luxury home buyers; some place huge premiums on it. This could be celebrities scouring for their own sanctuary in the Hollywood Hills or folks who just psychologically prefer as much seclusion as possible while still living in a big city. Privacy is typically achieved by buying in a gated community or finding a home with lush, dense landscaping that conceals the house from the street.

Prestige

Sometimes, a home’s association with status is enough for it to be deemed luxurious. For example, homes in country clubs and gated communities connote a certain prestige that is synonymous with luxury. In other cases, a celebrity or otherwise noteworthy individual may live in the neighborhood or a condo building like Sierra Towers.

Exclusivity

A luxury home connotes exclusivity, and that is especially true with historic or one-of-a-kind homes. For example, consider the famous 20th-century architect Frank Lloyd Wright and his contributions to Los Angeles neighborhoods like Los Feliz and Hollywood Heights. Architecturally noteworthy homes built by well-known architects are in a league of their own and exude exclusivity.

Some buyers find specific types of real estate as luxurious. A great example is those who love authentic (or converted) lofts. Authentic lofts have been converted from their prior use as warehouses or office buildings and typically feature exposed brick and ductwork.

Lastly, some architectural styles are viewed as more luxurious. Current examples include Contemporary and Mid-Century Modern homes.

Other Factors

Size

Luxury homes come in many sizes. While many believe a luxury home must be a sprawling mega-mansion, this just isn’t the case. For example, a condo building like the St. Regis Bal Harbour near Miami has one-bedroom condo listings priced above $2000 a square foot!

Scarcity

Luxury properties can be more challenging to find and typically take longer to sell than typical properties. This is because high-end homes represent a smaller percentage of total listings and there are far fewer buyers in the luxury market. Additionally, some luxury buyers are picky and willing to wait a while until the property that matches their specific criteria hits the market.

Some of the most discerning luxury buyers will purchase properties off-market. This might be because they have particular tastes or because they want to keep the price they paid hidden from public record.

Financial & Regulatory Considerations

Luxury properties can be excellent investment vehicles. Choosing to purchase a property in strong market with ample tourism can generate seasonal income and rapid appreciation. Some U.S. cities and countries have no property taxes, making them particularly investor-friendly.

Luxury condo buildings located in high-density, pedestrian-friendly areas are also a great bet. They also require less ongoing maintenance when compared to single-family homes.

In some cities, the political tides are turning against luxury property investors and buyers. Certain markets are making ownership of luxury homes subject to extra regulation and taxes such as enacting laws that regulate vacation rentals. Many homebuyers acquire properties in tourist destinations so that they can rent them out for most of the year and then enjoy them for their own vacations. Local municipalities, like Santa Monica, saw this behavior as undesirable and enacted regulations designed to limit vacation rentals.

California Luxury Realtors®

Buying and selling luxury homes require a higher level of service than a typical transaction. Make sure the real estate agent is up to the task. Luxury real estate deals require savvy real estate agents -- on both sides -- who can identify the value of a home, set realistic expectations, and successfully negotiate a home’s purchase based on the available market condistions (with a touch of diplomacy).

The first step, on either side of the deal, is to collect data from multiple sources to understand the true value of a home. A widely used tactic in California is to set the initial asking price of a home much higher than market value, hoping for a buyer who will ignore the facts available to them, base their purchase decision purely on emotion, and wildly overspend. That’s why many luxury homes sit on the market for a very long time.

Once a luxury homes goes under contract, the escrow period requires more attentiveness. Luxury homes feature specific amenities that may require extra due diligence and specialized inspections. For example, our real estate agency frequently encounters with hillside luxury homes that require additional inspections related to foundations and slope stability. Older homes may have unstable chimneys or mature shade trees on the property where roots have intruded into sewer lines. An agent familiar with luxury properties will know what to look for and which independent contractors to recommend.

If you're looking to buy a home, contact our California real estate agents; we're the LOCAL experts who can answer all of your home buying questions. If you're planning to sell a luxury home in California, our listing agents can provide a list of houses recently sold nearby (a.k.a. comparables) and up-to-date data for the California luxury real estate market.