In July, one of the most famous estates in Bel Air sold at a foreclosure auction in Pomona, far from its terraced lawns above the Bel-Air Country Club. Casa Encantada, the 1938 James Dolena house at 10644 Bellagio Road, went for $130 million, the Los Angeles Times reported. The family that owned it had relisted it at $170 million in April, three months earlier. Earlier asks had reached $225 million in 2019 and $250 million in 2023.
The auction is the price that counts. The relisting is a footnote. Through 2026, the Bel Air numbers that buyers, appraisers and the next sellers will lean on have mostly come from owners who could no longer wait: a lender process, a default and change of ownership, an auction with a reserve. Bel Air's comps are being written by whoever has the shortest clock, and every listing that comes to market this fall gets measured against them.
Four clocks that ran out in 2026
Each property below had a number its owner hoped for, followed by a public price signal: a sale, a contract ask, a top bid or an auction reserve. The distance between them is the useful part.
| Property | Earlier ask | 2026 number that mattered | Gap | What set it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casa Encantada, 10644 Bellagio Road | $170M, April 2026 relist | $130M | about 24% | Foreclosure auction, July |
| 1116 Chantilly Road | $35.7M, 2023 | about $20M in contract, August | about 44% | New LLC owner after a scheduled trustee's sale |
| Crown Bel Air portfolio, incl. 1005 and 1031 Bel Air Court | $105M | $54.4M top bid, in contract as of September | about 48% | Auction, May |
| 677 Nimes Road | just under $50M, 2021 | $30M reserve, June auction | about 40% | Reserve auction |
Two other well-known listings show the same pressure without any forced sale. La Fin, the 36,000-square-foot spec mansion at 1200 Bel Air Road, came back at $99.95 million after first asking $139 million, according to Robb Report. In March, The Real Deal reported that 1101 Bel Air Place had dropped to just under $40 million from an initial ask near $60 million.
Chantilly Road shows how a reset happens
The record for 1116 Chantilly Road explains the mechanism better than any market summary does. The Real Deal laid out the sequence in August. The 18,500-square-foot house, built in 2024 on more than half an acre, first came to market in 2023 at $35.7 million, or $1,929 per square foot. A notice of default followed in September 2024 with over $15 million in debt outstanding. The following year the home was set for a trustee's sale, and ownership moved to a Santa Ana-based limited liability company in October 2025. In August 2026 it went into contract while listed for nearly $20 million, or $1,081 per square foot.
The original ask came from a developer who needed the house to cover its build cost. The current ask comes from a new owner that took title after the default and trustee's sale filings, and that owner has no reason to defend the 2023 number. Between those two prices, the cost basis that justified $1,929 a foot was erased. The 20-seat theater, the wellness wing and the 2,700-square-foot primary suite are all still there. The debt that set the original price is not.
The last reported status on Chantilly is "in contract," with no closing price published. Even so, an appraiser looking at an 18,000-square-foot new build in lower Bel Air now has an asking figure near $1,100 a foot to consider, where the reference used to be closer to $1,900.
Nimes Road shows how long a spec clock can run
The Chantilly reset took about three years. The one at 677 Nimes Road took about a decade, and its timeline shows how a land bet turns into a house bet. According to The Real Deal's account, drawn from Mansion Global, the developer bought the site in 2015 for nearly $5.3 million, when it held an 1,800-square-foot teardown. The land was listed for $15.9 million in September 2016, then pitched with development plans at nearly $22 million. When neither found a buyer, the developer built the largest home the city would allow. The finished 19,348-square-foot house came to market in 2021 just shy of $50 million and dropped below $40 million after a series of cuts. In April 2026 it was sent to auction with a $30 million reserve and online bidding through June 11.
No auction result has been reported publicly. A reserve is still a disclosed floor, though, and it was set by the person with the most information about the property. When a seller publishes $30 million on a house once marketed near $50 million, the market has a new reference point.
Auctions make the price public
The Crown Bel Air package shows the same thing at portfolio scale. It covers nearly 16 acres across Bel Air and the Hollywood Hills and includes two homes billed as "landmark estates" at 1005 and 1031 Bel Air Court. Those two were listed together at $29.5 million with a $10 million starting bid. In May the full package drew a top bid of $54.4 million at Concierge Auctions, about $1,287 per square foot, against a $105 million marketed price, The Real Deal reported in September, when it was in contract. The coverage does not describe this sale as lender-driven. In practice that hardly matters. An auction produces a bid everyone can see, and that bid then appears in the weekly contract tallies the rest of the market reads.
It did appear there. That single bid made the Crown portfolio the priciest residential contract in Los Angeles County for its week and pushed asking dollar volume up 166% year over year for that week, according to the same report.
New spec homes are listing against these comps
A new Bel Air listing in late 2026 is priced against these signals. In mid-October, The Real Deal reported that 1331 Linda Flora Drive had come to market at $36.5 million. It is a 10,950-square-foot brutalist home built from scratch on a lot bought in 2017, finished this year with 4,500 tons of concrete. Two other listings on the same street were asking $13.8 million and nearly $24 million. The publication described the city's luxury market this year as favoring buyers, with properties selling below list.
The countywide pace explains why patience is costly for anyone carrying a large house. In the weekly tally of $4 million-plus contracts reported by The Real Deal on October 20, 2026, 17 homes went into contract, down 23% from a year earlier, on $119.5 million in asking volume, down 16%. In the week reported October 14, there were 24 contracts against 29 a year before, asking volume fell 34%, and 11 of those deals were priced between $4 million and just under $5 million. Most of the activity is in the lower end of the luxury range. Above $20 million, each month a listing sits adds to taxes, insurance, staffing and interest.
The transfer tax widens the gap at the top
The City of Los Angeles transfer tax adds to that pressure for the same price band. For transactions closing after June 30, 2026, the City's Office of Finance applies the Measure ULA rate of 4% to sales over $5.4 million and under $10.9 million, and 5.5% at $10.9 million and above. Combined with the City's base transfer tax, the totals are 4.45% and 5.95%.
At the combined 5.95% rate, here is what the published schedule produces at the prices discussed above:
- A $20 million sale: about $1.19 million
- A $36.5 million sale: about $2.17 million
For a developer whose basis is already above the market, that amount comes out of a margin that may no longer exist. In March, The Real Deal quoted an agent who said sellers price in the tax's cost. When the seller is a lender, an auction house working to a reserve, or an owner who took title after a default, the calculation is shorter. The property sells at whatever number clears.
These figures come from the City's published schedule and are general information, not tax or legal advice. Any seller or buyer should confirm how the tax applies to a specific transaction with their own attorney or tax advisor.
Reading a Bel Air listing in this market
The list price says the least about a listing. The useful information is in its history, and most of it is public.
- Find the first ask and the date. A 2021 or 2023 ask was set against a different cost of money and different comps.
- Count the cuts. A house that has been cut several times without a contract, like Nimes before its auction, has a seller who is running out of options.
- Check for a notice of default or trustee's sale. On Chantilly, that record explained a gap of more than $800 a square foot.
- Look for an auction reserve or a starting bid. Crown's $10 million opening bid on a $29.5 million pair is a disclosed number, and a reserve works the same way.
- Compare with the latest public price signal, not the latest listing. On Linda Flora and elsewhere, the relevant comparison for a new $36.5 million ask is the $1,081-a-foot Chantilly contract and the $1,287-a-foot Crown bid.
For buyers, this is leverage that can be documented in a negotiation. For sellers, it is a reason to price from the clearing numbers at the start, before the market sets the price through a forced sale.
A few direct questions
Did Casa Encantada set a new Bel Air record?
The Los Angeles Times called the $130 million price one of the priciest home sales ever in Los Angeles. It set national records twice before, in 1980 and 2000.
Have Chantilly, Crown Bel Air and Nimes closed?
As last reported, Chantilly and the Crown portfolio were in contract and no Nimes auction result had been published. Until closings are recorded, their asking prices, bids and reserves are the public reference points.
Does every Bel Air listing face this pressure?
The examples above are large new builds, spec projects and estates with heavy carrying costs. A well-located house with a long-term owner and no debt clock can price on its own schedule. It is still compared against the clearing numbers listed here.
If you own in Bel Air and want to know where your home stands against this year's auction bids and post-default resales, before a listing has to prove it in public, Sandler + Hirsch Group can prepare a confidential reading built on clearing prices, not asking prices. Request a private home valuation.
