Add The California Post on Google New-money millionaires — particularly those buoyed by their involvement in Elon Musk’s rising commercial success of SpaceX — are opening their newly filled purses for the LA real estate market, putting already highly desired neighborhoods under an even brighter spotlight.
SpaceX’s recent historic initial public offering (IPO) debuted June 12 at $135 a share, briefly topped $200, created nearly 4,400 new millionaires, made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire, and raised almost $86 billion.
Now, those fresh LA millionaires are eyeing homes in the South Bay’s affluent beach cities — Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach — according to The Ankler.
Hawthorne, where the majority of SpaceX’s thousands of employees still work at the company’s original campus (despite the company moving its headquarters to Texas in 2024), is also expected to see a jump, along with the Palos Verdes peninsula and Westside neighborhoods like Playa Vista, Venice, Santa Monica, Malibu and Brentwood.
Per a Hill.com report, of the 4,400 freshly minted millionaires, around 400 of them are projected to earn a whopping $100 million or more.
A former SpaceX employee who spoke with The Ankler anonymously to to his NDA told the outlet that even prior to the initial record-breaking IPO, he and his fellow employees at the time felt “that if the company were to go public, then it was definitely going to be house-buying money.”
Despite SpaceX’s IPO falling in recent weeks — reaching a record low of $132.50 apiece in mid-July before rallying again — LA real estate professionals are still seeing a burgeoning interest in those with suddenly heavier pockets procuring homes in the area’s notoriously ritzy neighborhoods, as observed in real time by co-founder of Smith & Berg Property Group, David Berg.
“We’re doing a deal right now where the prospective buyer is a longtime [SpaceX] employee and is making a big step up from a modest house on the Westside to a pretty proper house in the $13 million range in Brentwood,” Berg said.
That said, not all SpaceX employees affected have been spending their new money so lavishly.
“I think the price range that we will see affected most dramatically is probably the $2 million to $6 million range,” Lynnsey Ross, an agent with Douglas Elliman, told The Ankler.
Chris Furie, the co-founder of Insignia Mortgage who told the outlet he believed the cash influx would “have a huge effect on the real estate market,” agreed with this assessment.
“I really think we’re gonna see a lot of activity under $10 million,” he added.
While the interest in these luxe living spaces isn’t entirely new — Lakers star Luka Dončić acquired a five bedroom beach house from tennis standout Maria Sharapova for a record-breaking $25 million in Manhattan Beach, per The Robb Report — the market’s increased activity by the SpaceX sitch (including current homeowners who are hoping to tack on a “SpaceX premium” while selling their properties) is action to watch.
“[The SpaceX effect] “is real,” said Berg. “But is it a wave? It’s too soon to say. Los Angeles is a city that attracts a lot of money. It’s a super-city. You already have so much money here. I mean, this is a place where money swirls around.”
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