East MB New Construx Hit $6M - Once

We've been around Manhattan Beach long enough to remember when builders didn't pay great attention to East Manhattan.

To be sure, homes were built new all over the east side, but it always seemed that builders held something back. They'd put more money, effort and quality into homes west of Sepulveda. On the east side, they'd almost phone it in, with homes that were basic, C+ work. 

You may be thinking about exceptions while we're talking about the rule. But that's OK, we don't need to argue. 

Things have changed in the past dozen years or so. Builders learned that they could put high-quality homes out on the east side and get high prices. Turns out, people with big budgets wanted the big, big homes on the bigger lots offered in East MB. 

By 2019, we were seeing $4M+ sales of new construction on "full-sized" lots (~7500 sqft.). (Here's our post on the first such sale.)

(This whole post focuses on homes built on 50' x 150' lots, or lots near that size, east of Sepulveda.)

By 2023, there had been 5 sales at $5M+. (We wrote about that here.)

Here in 2025, we have seen the first new construction sale over $6M. 

That was 1608 11th (6br/7ba, 5100 sqft.), which closed for $6.150M in May.

It's the only sale so far to creep over $6M, while among current inventory – as we'll see – only one is even trying to get $6M.

The 1608 11th sale's slick $1,206/PSF appears to mark the third time a new build on a full lot hit $1,200/PSF or greater.

Side note: We used to think that this location right near Manhattan Heights Park could be a negative, just due to traffic and activity nearby, but this is the second sale to prove us wrong. In Feb. 2022, 1618 11th (7br/7ba, 5007 sqft.) sold for $5.475M, the second-highest new construction sale at the time, and substantially the highest PPSF, nearly $1,100/PSF, for such a property at the time.

In the 6 months before this year's $6M+ sale, there were 3 more in the $5.6s and $5.7s:

• 1826 9th (6br/6ba, 4650 sqft.) at $5.725M (April '25)(pictured)
• 1658 Ruhland (5br/5ba, 4820 sqft.) at $5.600M (Jan. '25)
• 1504 9th (5br/5ba, 4662 sqft.) at $5.625M (Dec. '24)

Go backwards from 2024 into early 2023, and you find 6 more sales between $5.000-$5.400M:

• 1827 8th (6br/6ba, 4600 sqft.) at $5.275M (Nov. '24) (pictured)
• 1847 9th (6br/7ba, 5205 sqft.) at $5.300M (Oct. '24)
• 1627 Ruhland (5br/6ba, 4623 sqft.) at $5.250M (Apr. '24)
• 1447 21st (6br/7ba, 4512 sqft.) at $5.200M (Dec. '23)
• 1515 6th (6br/5ba, 4588 sqft.) at $5.000M (June '23)
• 1436 21st (5br/5ba, 4542 sqft.) at $5.400M (May '23)

So, yeah, the 5's and higher 5's have been a thing for a while now east of the highway.

If we were surprised by the values on those two home sales next to the park at Heights, then we'll need a whole new word for our reactions to seeing three homes on the 1800 block among these high sales.

What kind of confidence does it take for a builder to start a project on the 1800 block, in sight of Aviation, and expect a huge price? Looks like it was well-placed confidence.

Today, we count 6 active listings of new construction in East Manhattan, some just build sites where they're trying to "pre-sell" the home, and some structures that you can actually walk through. (And two on the 1800 blocks.)

Here they are ordered by fewest Days Active in MLS:

• 1716 6th (5br/6ba, 4956 sqft.), asking $5.400M - (pictured) listed by Robert Freedman, DOMO Real Estate
• 1736 Voorhees (5br/6ba, 4982 sqft.), asking $5.500M - listed by Robert Freedman, DOMO Real Estate
• 1827 9th (5br/6ba, 4956 sqft.), asking $5.390M - listed by Edward Kaminsky, eXp Realty of California, Inc
• 1820 9th (6br/7ba, 4666 sqft.), asking $5.795M - listed by Joseph Nuzzolo, Thompson Team Real Estate, Inc.
• 1544 Mathews (5br/7ba, 4701 sqft.), asking $5.890M - listed by Amir Amiri, Merit Real Estate
• 1612 Gates (5br/6ba, 5080 sqft.), asking $6.150M - listed by Stephanie Wells, Real Estate West, Inc. 

There's also one under contract: 1643 3rd (5br/6ba, 4956 sqft.), asking $5.550M and arguably boasting the best location of the active and pending inventory. (1643 3rd is listed by Jennifer Caras, Vista Sotheby’s International Realty.)

We also see 4 more new-construction listings that have been pulled off the market after some MLS time this year. Some surely will be back after they make more progress in construction.

And one of those, well, we're not entirely sure how the bold, unconventional project in an iffy location got off the ground. We'll see how things shape up if/when they come back to market.

From the look of things, it could be a while still before we see another sale over $6M, as there is a lot of inventory to clear that's already priced lower. 

But give it time. We used to think of $4M as almost unachievable.