LA’S BIGGEST SALE NEVER HIT THE MARKET. IT WASN’T THE ONLY ONE.

The biggest sale in Los Angeles luxury real estate last week was one most buyers never had the opportunity to see.

245 Rocky Point in Palos Verdes Estates closed at $24,258,064, making it the largest sale of the week by more than $12 million. The seven-bedroom, eleven-bath estate spans 7,022 square feet on nearly half an acre and carried an original asking price of $29.75 million. The transaction itself happened privately, negotiated off market and entered into the MLS after the deal was done.

And Rocky Point wasn’t an anomaly.

Five of the week’s 37 closings were off-market transactions, accounting for approximately $58.6 million, or nearly a quarter of the week’s total dollar volume. Even more notable, all three sales above $10 million traded off market.

That is a meaningful amount of activity happening outside the public market, particularly at the very top. In a market where we tend to focus on listings, days on market and price reductions, some of the biggest deals are being negotiated privately and only appearing in the MLS after the fact.

The broader data tells an equally interesting story.

Last week, 37 single-family homes at $4 million and above closed across the Los Angeles luxury market, representing approximately $236.6 million in total sales volume. The average sale price was $6.4 million, while the median came in at $5.35 million.

Once the five off-market transactions are separated out, 32 publicly marketed sales remain. Of those, 19 sold within 30 days, nearly 60%. At the other end of the spectrum, seven properties took 90 days or longer to sell.

There was surprisingly little middle ground.

The pattern suggests a market where buyers are willing to move quickly when they see value, but are equally comfortable waiting when they don’t.

BUYERS WILL STILL PAY UP

Pricing discipline showed up on the upside as well. Eight publicly marketed homes sold at or above asking price, reinforcing that buyers will still compete when a property is well positioned and perceived as offering value.

THE COST OF CHASING THE MARKET

The other side of the week’s data was considerably less forgiving.

24102 Malibu Rd closed at $5.5 million after originally coming to market in 2023 at $9.8 million, a $4.3 million difference from its initial asking price.

It is an extreme example, but it illustrates what can happen when a property spends too long chasing a number the market is unwilling to support.

And that may be the most useful takeaway from this week’s numbers.

Five off-market transactions accounted for nearly a quarter of the week’s total dollar volume, and every sale above $10 million happened privately.

For sellers, particularly at the higher end of the market, there is a strategy in that. If the goal is to test an aspirational price, it can make sense to begin privately, exposing the property to a targeted pool of qualified buyers before committing to the MLS.

The private market gives a seller the opportunity to test price and gauge demand without accumulating days on market or publicly documenting a series of price reductions. If the right buyer emerges, a deal can come together quietly. If not, the property can still enter the public market with a fresh launch and a pricing strategy informed by that initial feedback.

This week’s data is a good reminder that going public does not always have to be the first move. Sometimes the smartest strategy is to test the private market first.

LA Luxury $4M+. All data sourced from MLS.