Trump-Branded Home Tops Los Angeles Residential Market

The same week President Trump declined to sign a bipartisan housing bill passed by Congress, a home in his Trump National community in Rancho Palos Verdes fetched the biggest sale of the week in the L.A. area.

Villa Cape Point, a nearly 11,000-square-foot estate at 32040 Cape Point Drive in The Estates at Trump National is under contract after asking nearly $18.9 million, topping the list of signed deals on this week’s Eklund Weekly Luxury Report Los Angeles report. The seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom home hit the market a year ago for $23.2 million but was delisted in November, resurfacing on the MLS last month for almost $18.9 million, or $1,717 per square foot — roughly 18.5 percent below its previous list price. The home last sold in 2007 for $4 million. Coldwell Banker Realty’s Leo Goldschwartz, who holds the listing, did not disclose the seller.

On the other end of town in Brentwood, another golf course-adjacent property found a buyer in the week’s second-priciest contract signed. The almost 6,500-square-foot manse at 563 Burlingame Avenue, across the street from Brentwood Country Club, asked nearly $15.5 million, or about $2,400 per square foot, before going under contract. Douglas Elliman’s Josh Picker and Joshua Altman hold the listing and declined to disclose the seller. The home didn’t spend too much time on the market, going up for sale in April and landing a contract two months later. It last traded hands in 2011 for nearly $6.4 million.

Douglas Elliman’s Eklund Gomes team, which compiles the weekly roundup, reported a total of nearly $137 million in asking volume this week across 18 new contracts. That figure is 43.8 percent lower in dollar volume and 35.7 percent below the number of contracts from the same week last year. A year ago, L.A. County saw 28 contracts signed with more than $243.7 million in asking volume.

Serhant’s California expansion

Ryan Serhant’s brokerage made a splash in the Pacific Ocean this spring with the news that it was opening four California offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Orange County. Ben Belack, formerly of The Agency, is leading the way, acting as executive vice president of Serhant’s California operations.

This week, Belack spoke with The Real Deal about how things are going in his new gig, as well as trends he’s seen so far this year, Measure ULA, wildfire rebuilding and more.

“Measure ULA is kind of like the dark cloud over us,” Belack said of the controversial transfer tax. “What we’ve seen is a ton of high-end leases because people don’t want to sell their most expensive or one of their most expensive assets and have to pay 5.5 percent in taxes.”

“I think the two things about ULA that really just don’t sit with anyone well is that one, the thresholds where they’re levied seem arbitrary. And also, everyone who buys a house in California benefits from appreciation. Why is only one socioeconomic class being levied the tax? Why isn’t it at least prorated, like our [other] taxes?” he added.

Reading the tea leaves for the second half of this year, Belack expects residential market activity to emulate last year’s, when the end of the year saw an uptick in activity compared to the traditional spring boom period. “I have a feeling that 2026 is going to feel a lot like 2025,” he said. “The spring buying season is going to be in the fourth quarter.”

Measure ULA killer DOA

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association-backed proposal to cap transfer taxes at a fraction of their Measure ULA rates won’t be put before voters this fall after all.

On Thursday, the state withdrew the Local Taxpayer Protection Act to Save Proposition 13 from the November ballot after behind-the-scenes discussions between Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, state legislative leaders, housing advocates, unions and business interests. In exchange for removing the measure from the ballot, the governor’s office and state legislators agreed to put forth a different constitutional amendment that would raise the share of votes needed to pass certain local taxes and make it harder to pass certain tax-limiting measures.

HJTA president Jon Coupal said Newsom’s office “put something on the table that is pretty pleasing to us… which surprises me.”

With the measure now off the ballot, the fate of Assembly Bill 736, a proposed legislative answer to the HJTA’s endeavor, appears to be up in the air. Even before the HJTA measure was scuttled, AB 736 faced pushback from a motley crew of opponents including the California Association of Realtors, local government groups, affordable housing developers and tenant rights advocates. Whether lawmakers opt to vote on the polarizing measure remains to be seen.