Market Intelligence · July 22, 2026
A $200 Million Penthouse, and the End of an LA Real Estate Dynasty
The Week’s Most Consequential Stories in LA Luxury Real Estate
Los Angeles luxury real estate delivered a week of institutional reckoning and record-breaking ambition in equal measure. A yet-to-close penthouse deal at the still-rising Aman Beverly Hills is positioned to shatter California’s all-time condo price record — by nearly five times the current mark. Meanwhile, one of the city’s most storied brokerages appears to have quietly folded into a national franchise, closing a chapter three decades in the making. And in Pacific Palisades, a boldface celebrity sale offered a small but telling sign of the neighborhood’s slow climb back from last year’s fires. Here is what mattered most.
Record Sale
A $200 Million Penthouse Set to Redefine California’s Condo Market
An unidentified buyer has reserved a two-story penthouse at the under-construction Aman Beverly Hills for $200 million, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal — a price that would exceed Los Angeles County’s current all-time condo sale record by roughly five times over. A second penthouse in the same building carries an identical ask.
Developed by Cain and OKO Group at 9900 Wilshire Boulevard, the 28-story Aman Beverly Hills anchors the broader One Beverly Hills development, a 17.5-acre, $10 billion project rising near Rodeo Drive. The reserved penthouse spans roughly 16,800 square feet of interior space and more than 14,000 square feet of outdoor terraces, pools and gardens, with residents granted access to a 100,000-square-foot private club plus the adjoining Aman hotel’s spa and restaurants.
The deal is the latest sign of extraordinary depth at the very top of the condo market: another buyer agreed last month to pay $107 million for an unfinished full-floor unit at the same property, while additional units are under contract at $46 million and $39.8 million. By contrast, the current closed-sale record for a Los Angeles County condo stands at $39.2 million, set last year at Century City’s Century building — meaning the Aman deal, if it closes, would more than quintuple that mark. The building’s ambition arrives even as the broader condo market cools: Sotheby’s International Realty data shows second-quarter condo sales volume in LA fell 1.3 percentage points year over year, with the median condo price down 2.3 percent to $723,000.
Brokerage News
Hilton & Hyland’s Long Goodbye: A Legendary Firm Folds Into Keller Williams
A different kind of record quietly fell this month, as one of Los Angeles’s most storied luxury brokerages appears to have folded into a national franchise. California Department of Real Estate filings show that 16 of Hilton & Hyland’s remaining 17 agents have moved their licenses to Forward Sunset Inc., operating as Keller Williams Hollywood Hills — with Hilton & Hyland itself now listed as a “DBA” under that entity.
Neither firm has confirmed the terms of the arrangement publicly; Hilton & Hyland did not respond to a request for comment, and Keller Williams Hollywood Hills declined to discuss it. But the move caps a steady unwinding of one of the neighborhood’s defining brands. Built over three decades into a name nearly synonymous with the Beverly Hills trophy-home trade under co-founders Rick Hilton and the late Jeff Hyland, the firm has shed talent at a striking pace since Hyland’s death in 2022 — Drew Fenton departed to found Carolwood that same November, Rick Hilton sold his stake to widow Lori Hyland weeks later, and Hilton himself subsequently launched Hilton & Hilton Real Estate with his son and daughter-in-law. Today’s roster of 17 agents represents an almost 89 percent decline from the firm’s headcount peak just four years ago.
For sellers weighing which firm to list with, the episode is a reminder that brand pedigree and agent relationships don’t always move together — and that in a business built on personal reputation, institutional continuity can prove more fragile than it looks from the outside.
Celebrity Sale
Kaskade Closes the Book on His Palisades Chapter, at $18 Million
Ryan Raddon, the Grammy-nominated DJ known as Kaskade, has sold his six-bedroom, 9,200-square-foot home at 1480 Capri Drive in Pacific Palisades for $18 million — a deal that offers a small, human-scale data point in the neighborhood’s slow recovery from last year’s wildfires.
Raddon purchased the property in 2013 for $4.3 million and first listed it in March 2025, just weeks after the Palisades fire tore through the surrounding hillside, asking just under $24 million. The home sat on and off the market for over a year, absorbing several price reductions before settling near $20 million ahead of this sale. Compass’s Alyson Richards and Carl Gambino represented Raddon; Jessica Pasternak of The Beverly Hills Estates brought the undisclosed buyer.
The sale lands against a broader Palisades backdrop still defined by scarcity and rebuilding: active listing inventory in the neighborhood remains roughly 60 percent below its five-year pre-fire average, even as the city has approved rebuilding permits at nearly three times the pre-fire pace. For sellers holding property in fire-affected pockets, Raddon’s outcome suggests that patient, realistically priced listings can still find buyers — even if it takes more than a year and a meaningful markdown from the initial ask.
Market Pulse
A snapshot of the contract activity and notable listings shaping the week.
- Hancock Park claimed the county’s priciest signed contract last week. The 1926-built mansion at 344 South Hudson Avenue, listed for $16.5 million by Aaron Kirman of Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California alongside Sotheby’s International Realty’s Neyshia Go, went into contract less than a month after hitting the market. The five-bedroom home — with a tennis court, koi pond and its own movie theater — last sold in 2015 for $8.6 million.
- Weekly luxury contract volume cooled slightly but remains ahead of last year. Twenty-three luxury contracts were signed last week totaling $150.3 million in asking volume, per the Eklund Weekly Luxury Report Los Angeles compiled by Marcy Roth of Douglas Elliman’s Eklund Gomes team — down from $169 million the week prior but up roughly 15 percent year over year.
- A Malibu estate placed second at just under $10 million asking. The more than 10,000-square-foot home at 6110 Merritt Drive has been on and off the market for nearly two years, first listed at $21.5 million before a series of price cuts; it’s also available to rent for $60,000 a month, held by Compass’s Chris Cortazzo.
- Beverly Hills added another nine-figure-adjacent listing to an already crowded top tier. The home at 1357 Laurel Way re-entered the market asking $32.8 million under developers Alon Abady and Ofer Resles, less than two years after Abady paid $17 million for it. The Agency’s Mauricio Umansky, Farrah Brittany and Brenden Abady hold the listing.
The Takeaway
Institutions Change, the Top of the Market Doesn’t Blink
This week captured a tension that has defined much of 2026: individual fortunes and franchise structures are being renegotiated even as the appetite for LA’s best real estate keeps climbing. A penthouse that hasn’t been built yet is on pace to more than quintuple the county’s condo record. A brokerage built over three decades on personal relationships and trophy listings has folded into a national platform. And a fire-scarred neighborhood is proving, one closed sale at a time, that patient sellers can still find their buyer.
For sellers, the throughline is that pedigree alone won’t move a listing — pricing discipline and the right representation matter more than ever, whichever letterhead sits atop the listing agreement. For buyers, particularly those newly positioned by liquidity events, the opportunities at the very top of the market remain real, provided they’re prepared to act with the same conviction the market itself is showing right now.
For guidance on navigating the current luxury market, contact Aram Afshar at aram@quintessentiallyestates.com.
