Hill Section Makes a Splash - Manhattan Beach Market Update for 8/31/25

Oh, the Hill Section. Everyone loves the Hill Section of Manhattan Beach, if only to dream about it.

As exciting as the district can be, it's small enough that there are never too many sales.

Something like 20-25 sales is typical in a year, maybe the low 30s in a super busy year. 

(Side note: Your blog author here is also the top-ranked broker for the Hill Section over the past year, with $30M+ in sales over the year from Aug. '24-July '25, besting the next-place broker by $8M.) 

During late August this year, suddenly the Hill Section had a wave of activity.

One notable event was the sale of a fully rebuilt home at 876 5th (5br/7ba, 4844 sqft.) for $12.500M. 

The home, up near the top of the hill right as it flattens out, is distinguished by giant, unblocked views to the south and west, capturing the Hermosa Pier, PV and plenty of ocean. In our review, we said it "feels like a permanent postcard painting right off the main living spaces upstairs."

Perfect floorplan? Nah. All fully modern and classy? Yes. Views from the primary suite also? Yes indeed. 

The $12.500M was only $400K shy of asking, and the sale happened fast, as the paint was trying. 

Just a bit further down the hill, 212 John Street (6br/8ba, 6754 sqft.) finally sold. 

The home is a large, custom '01 Mediterranean in a prime location.

A 25-year-old Mediterranean in a prime location with views can be an endangered species in the Hill Section. 

Buyers who could consider the home's $12.000M start price tend to be of the variety that want exactly what they want, and older homes don't often have what they want.

As a result, sometimes listings like these sell for land value. 

The closing, just more than 6 months after the listing's start, came in at $9.700M, which is right around land value. We'll see what the buyers do here.

Meantime, a beautiful custom build (2014) at 617 Anderson (6br/8ba, 6500 sqft.) now has a buyer, about 4 months after listing. It was last at $10.999M.

So you saw the Hill Section go from quiet to $33M or so in sales and pending sales, almost overnight. 

Talk about making a splash.

As to the rest of the market, inventory is down slightly, and the pace of pending sales was not as rapid in the second half as in the first half of August, which had seen 20 new deals citywide. There were 7 new escrows in the latter half of the month.

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Here's the rest of our local real estate market update report for the period ending 8/31/25:

> 84 active listings as of 8/31/25 (-3 from 8/15/25) 

> 64 SFRs (-6)

> 20 THs (+3)

See the Inventory list as of 8/31/25 here, or see the MB Dashboard for up-to-the-minute data.

Active listings by region of Manhattan Beach in this report:

> Tree Section: 15 actives (-1)

> Sand Section: 35 actives (-5)

> Hill Section: 10 actives (+1)

> East MB: 24 actives (+2)

We're also providing a report on closed sales by region of MB.

Sales data, including PPSF for all properties, are organized by sub-region of Manhattan Beach.

Here's a link to the spreadsheet: "MB Pending/Sold as of 8/31/25".