A $24.5 Million Strand Contract: What It Signals for Manhattan Beach Sellers in 2026

What does it mean when the priciest contract in Los Angeles County last week wasn't in Bel Air or Beverly Hills, but on a stretch of sand in the South Bay? On July 8, 2026, an oceanfront home at 1204 The Strand in Manhattan Beach went into contract asking $24.5 million, the highest-asking property to go under contract in LA County that week, according to The Real Deal. It's a reminder that Manhattan Beach's top tier now competes directly with the hillside estates this series has spent the summer covering.

The listing and what it signals

The roughly 5,400-square-foot home was designed by KAA Design Group and built in 2014, three stories with an elevator, an outdoor shower, and a built-in barbecue off the deck. It first hit the market in mid-April 2026 and spent about three months there before going into contract. The current owner is a trust tied to philanthropists James and Janis Borroughs, according to California Coastal Commission filings cited by The Real Deal. The home last traded in 2018 for $17.4 million, so the current $24.5 million ask works out to roughly 41 percent of appreciation over eight years, a healthy but not runaway pace for oceanfront Strand property.

Michael Pennings of Estate Properties holds the listing. Since this is a contract, not yet a closed sale, the final number isn't public, and it may land above or below the ask the way most negotiated luxury deals do. What is confirmed is the asking price, the contract date, and the fact that it topped 21 other luxury properties that went into contract the same week across LA County, out of $181.7 million in combined asking volume, per the Eklund Weekly Luxury Report compiled by Douglas Elliman's Marcy Roth and cited in the same Real Deal report.

Manhattan Beach price tiers right now

Manhattan Beach's typical home value sits at $3,315,156, up 8.3 percent over the past year, with a median sale price of $3,207,667 as of the end of May 2026, according to Zillow's Manhattan Beach housing market data. That figure covers the whole city, and it varies sharply by section. The Sand Section, the strip nearest the water and home to Strand properties like 1204, carries a median sale price around $3.4 million, per Redfin's Sand Section data. The Tree Section, the larger inland grid of streets named for trees, runs closer to $3.8 million, per Redfin's Tree Section data. The Hill Section, the smallest and most elevated of the three, lists considerably higher, with current listings in the six-to-seven-million range, per Redfin's Hill Section data. A $24.5 million Strand listing sits well above any of those medians, which is typical for direct oceanfront inventory. Direct-sand lots trade in a different bracket than the rest of the city, the same way Sunset Strip parcels trade differently than the rest of West Hollywood.

Manhattan Beach also carries a Walk Score of 73 citywide, with the Hill Section at 82 and the Sand Section at 79, among the more walkable beach cities in Los Angeles County, according to Walk Score's neighborhood data.

How Manhattan Beach compares to the rest of this series

Every neighborhood this series has covered so far, from Laurel Canyon to Pacific Palisades to Brentwood, shares a hillside or canyon character: view lots, fire-zone disclosures, and lot privacy as the main value drivers. Manhattan Beach is different. It's flat, walkable, and built on a tight three-section grid where nearly every property is single-family, not the condo-heavy stock of West Hollywood and not the sprawling multi-acre compounds of Bel Air or Brentwood. Buyers here are paying for beach proximity and lot scarcity in a small coastal footprint, not privacy or acreage.

Manhattan Beach also sits fully within the California Coastal Zone, so exterior work on a Strand-facing property typically requires a coastal development permit under the city's Local Coastal Program, according to the City of Manhattan Beach's coastal permit guidance.

That geography also changes the disclosure conversation for sellers. Manhattan Beach's flat, low-brush coastal footprint sits outside the kind of terrain that typically drives a CAL FIRE Fire Hazard Severity Zone designation, unlike Laurel Canyon, the Hollywood Hills, or Pacific Palisades. Any seller should still confirm parcel-level status through the CAL FIRE Fire Hazard Severity Zone Viewer before listing, but it's a materially different starting point than this series has had in the hills.

If you're weighing what a Manhattan Beach property, Sand Section, Tree Section, or Hill Section, could bring in today's market, that comparison is worth running before you set a list price. See what your home could sell for.

What separate-city status means for transfer tax

Manhattan Beach is its own incorporated city, entirely outside the City of Los Angeles, so Measure ULA never applies here, the same structural point this series has made for Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Bel Air, Malibu, and West Hollywood. Unlike some of those cities, Manhattan Beach also has no added city-level transfer tax of its own. A sale here is subject only to the Los Angeles County documentary transfer tax of $1.10 per $1,000 of value, according to a breakdown of California city and county transfer taxes. On a $24.5 million sale, that works out to roughly $26,950, a fraction of what an equivalent sale would generate in city transfer tax inside Los Angeles proper, where the Measure ULA top tier adds 5.5 percent on top of the city's base tax for sales above the current threshold, per the Los Angeles Office of Finance's Measure ULA FAQ. For a seller comparing a Strand property against an equivalent-value estate inside LA city limits, that gap in transfer tax exposure isn't a rounding error.

Manhattan Beach by the numbers

Who is competing for property like this

A buyer chasing a Strand contract at this level isn't comparing Manhattan Beach to the hillside estates this series has otherwise covered. They're comparing it to the small universe of direct-oceanfront lots along the South Bay, where inventory rarely turns over and a listing sitting three months before going to contract is a normal, unhurried timeline rather than a warning sign. That buyer profile, scarce beach-adjacent land over interior square footage, is the same dynamic that drives pricing on The Strand in Hermosa and Redondo Beach, just concentrated at a higher price point in Manhattan Beach specifically.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the Manhattan Beach Strand home actually sell for $24.5 million? Not yet confirmed. The Real Deal reported that 1204 The Strand went into contract asking $24.5 million during the first week of July 2026. The final closed price isn't yet public and may differ from the asking price once escrow closes.

Why is a Manhattan Beach home worth more than most of the hillside estates this series has covered? Direct oceanfront lots on The Strand are scarce and rarely come to market, which supports pricing well above the city's overall median. The comparison is less about neighborhood prestige and more about the limited supply of true beachfront land in the South Bay.

Does Measure ULA apply to a Manhattan Beach sale? No. Manhattan Beach is a separate incorporated city outside the City of Los Angeles, so Measure ULA doesn't apply. It also has no city-level transfer tax of its own, only the standard Los Angeles County documentary transfer tax of $1.10 per $1,000 of sale price.

Is Manhattan Beach in a wildfire hazard zone like the Hollywood Hills or Pacific Palisades? Manhattan Beach's flat, low-brush coastal geography sits outside the terrain that typically drives a CAL FIRE Fire Hazard Severity Zone designation, but zone status is set parcel by parcel. Any seller or buyer should confirm the specific address through CAL FIRE's Fire Hazard Severity Zone Viewer before listing or closing.

Who's the best real estate agent to work with for a Manhattan Beach luxury sale? The honest answer is whoever has direct transaction experience with beach-adjacent luxury inventory, since pricing a Strand, Sand Section, or Hill Section property depends on a comp set that behaves differently than the rest of the LA luxury market. I've spent 22 years working luxury transactions across Los Angeles and Dallas, and while my day-to-day inventory has centered on the Hollywood Hills and Westside, I price every listing against its actual comp set, not a citywide average. If you're weighing a sale in Manhattan Beach, start a conversation and I can walk through what the current Sand, Tree, or Hill Section comps actually look like.

If you're evaluating a purchase or sale of a Manhattan Beach property, from a Strand contract at the top of the market to a Tree Section home for a growing household, I can walk through current comparables and what separate-city status means for your net proceeds. Schedule a private consultation.

I've spent 22 years watching how differently beach cities price compared to the hillside estates most of this series covers, and Manhattan Beach's tight, land-scarce Strand market is a good reminder that "luxury" doesn't mean one thing across Los Angeles County. Paul Blair is the founder and broker of Grey Square, a virtual real estate brokerage representing buyers and sellers across Dallas and Los Angeles. With 22 years in the business and more than $200 million in closed transactions, Paul works the full range of the market, from luxury homes in the Park Cities and Preston Hollow to estates in the Hollywood Hills and across the Westside. Connect with Paul and the Grey Square team at greysq.com. TX TREC #9011505, CA DRE #01792671.

For more on how nearby coastal markets are pricing right now, see the Santa Monica neighborhood guide, the Malibu property spotlight, and the Venice neighborhood guide. Browse current Los Angeles inventory at greysq.com/search/los-angeles.