The Malibu Mansion Abandoned by Kanye West Is Hitting the Market Again

In September 2024, crowdfunding entrepreneur Steven “Bo” Belmont paid $21 million for a Tadao Ando-designed house in Malibu, Calif., that rapper Kanye West had purchased, gutted and abandoned, promising to restore it back to its original state.

Now, with the renovation in full swing, Belmont is putting the beachfront property back on the market for $39 million. If he doesn’t find an appealing offer, he’ll list the property for between $55 million and $65 million closer to completion, he said.

Belmont is continuing with construction, and expects the project to be done in early 2026. But he would make as much money for his investors selling now versus when the project is finished, since the carrying costs on the property are about $1 million a month.

And he is eager to sell quickly. “The minute I start going over a year of hold time, it lowers my average return on investment,” he said. “And my number one goal with my business is to take care of my investors.”

Belmont has received several unsolicited offers for the four-bedroom home over the last few months, including a $30 million overture from a Montana developer and a $28 million offer from a local builder. “I’m obviously not going to take that,” he said, “but there’s been a lot of activity.”

The roughly 4,000-square-foot house was designed more than decade ago by Ando, a Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect with a celebrity following, for financier Richard Sachs. West, who now goes by Ye, paid $57.3 million to buy it from Sachs in 2021, then gutted the house with plans to turn it into a beachfront bunker, according to a lawsuit from one of his contractors.

As he proceeded with the project, West made headlines for erratic behavior and antisemitic comments, and brands such as Gap and Adidas cut ties with him. He listed the property for $53 million in December 2023.

When Belmont bought it, the house had no windows, bathrooms or electricity, and was completely exposed to wind and sea spray from the Pacific Ocean. To fund the restoration, Belmont’s crowdfunding company, Belwood Investments, raised millions from investors who chipped in as little as $1,000 to north of $1 million.

Since then, he has done all the framing, installed new plumbing and electrical systems and redone the roof, he said. The glass for the windows hasn’t yet arrived from Germany; it is expected to be installed by the end of the summer, according to Belmont. He estimated the total cost of the project, which is being overseen by architecture firm Marmol Radziner, at around $8.5 million.

Buying early would allow the new owner to make some aesthetic decisions about the home, said Jason Oppenheim of the Oppenheim Group, one of the listing agents. “This house is like a Picasso,” he said. “This is almost like allowing the buyer to pick the frame.”

Malibu Road, where the property is located, wasn’t impacted by the L.A. wildfires earlier this year, but parts of the larger Malibu area were wiped out. Buyers right now are nervous about insurance and the pace of rebuilding, Belmont said, but he still expects long-term demand for Malibu homes. He noted that the hulking concrete structure would be impossible to burn.

The fires were “a horrible thing,” Belmont said, “but to be quite frank, there’s no inventory to buy on the Pacific Coast Highway, so it really bolstered our value.”

Belmont is eager to distance the Ando home from its association with West. “What I don’t want is that type of reckless publicity to be correlated with this piece of art,” he said. “It doesn’t need that type of stigma. It needs to be really showcased for what it truly is—an Ando.”

Ando has famously designed only a few residences for select clients. Beyoncé and Jay-Z paid $190 million in 2023 for a Malibu mansion he designed. Their home is known as the “Big Ando,” compared with Belmont’s “Little Ando.”

Oppenheim stars on the Netflix reality TV show “Selling Sunset,” and episodes for a coming season have been filmed at the house, Belmont said.

Belmont said he has already submitted an offer on another high-profile celebrity home, the property of embattled rapper P. Diddy . He said he submitted an offer of around $30 million for the home, which had been listed for $61.5 million, but it was declined. He has since lowered his offer to $27.5 million.

Belmont started Belwood in 2018. Previously, he served three years in prison after a 2014 conviction for assault with a deadly weapon in connection with allegedly hitting a man with a pitchfork during an altercation.

Oppenheim is co-listing the property with Mauricio Umansky from The Agency.

Sydney is well and truly on the world map when it comes to luxury residential property, rivalling—and even beating—the likes of Tokyo and Dubai in terms of price per square metre.

The harbour capital has also proven itself to be a powerhouse for luxury residential rental growth. Knight Frank’s Prime Global Rental Index Q4 2024 showed prime rents across Sydney grew 4.7 per cent over 2024, the fifth-highest growth globally.

This has pushed several of Sydney’s top suburbs over the $2,000 per week median rent mark for a house, with surrounding areas fast approaching the milestone.

We’ve wrapped up the most expensive suburbs to live in across Sydney, with data sourced from property data analytics firm CoreLogic.

1. Vaucluse: Median purchase: $8.69m; Median rent: $2,198

Vaucluse has consistently ranked as Sydney’s most expensive suburb for rental properties over the past few years, even with annual rents contracting by over 14 per cent. What sets it apart is its unique geography—it’s the only suburb in the Eastern Suburbs that stretches from the harbour to the ocean. Homes in Vaucluse top the price charts because most either boast Sydney Harbour views or enjoy uninterrupted outlooks over the Pacific Ocean.

The Neighbourhood

While most Eastern Suburbs have one main beach, Vaucluse is dotted with several secluded spots, such as Parsley Bay, Milk Beach, and the recently reopened Shark Beach, which had been closed for several years due to retaining wall repairs.

2. Dover Heights: Median purchase: $6.38m; Median rent: $2,024

Vaucluse’s immediate southern neighbour, Dover Heights, is the only other suburb in Sydney with a median house rental over $2,000. Dover Heights hugs the cliffs and is well known as one of the most tightly held house markets in the Eastern Suburbs. The homes are perched on the cliffside, and the majority of houses in the area have at least four bedrooms, pushing up prices.

The Neighbourhood

While there are no beaches to speak of, its elevated position provides some of the highest views of Sydney Harbour. It is also home to the Federation Cliff Walk, a five-kilometre clifftop walk with postcard views of the Pacific Ocean from Dover Heights to Watsons Bay.

3. Bronte: Median purchase: $5.64m, Median rent: $1,963

Bronte takes out the title of the most expensive of the ‘typical’ Eastern Suburbs beachside suburbs. Just 30 per cent of homes in Bronte are separate houses, with nearly half being apartments. Houses in the rental pool are typically original homes dating back to the 1960s that have been renovated over the last decade or so.

The Neighbourhood
Bronte has long been a favourite due to its more relaxed beachside lifestyle compared to the busier Bondi, although Bronte is no longer a ‘hidden gem’ anymore. It offers numerous lifestyle perks, from a small high street lined with shops and cafés to several eateries located by the beach, which also features one of the best natural ocean pools in the Eastern Suburbs.

4. North Bondi: Median purchase: $4.81m; Median rent: $1,932

North Bondi has become a hotbed of new homes, with frequent sales of either original houses or older apartment complexes being bought to be demolished and replaced by brand-new contemporary builds. There’s a mix of original cottages and new homes in the rental pool, the latter fetching over $7,000 a week.

The Neighbourhood
North Bondi is situated in a small pocket, just south of Dover Heights and north of Bondi Beach. Starting at the Ben Buckler Peninsula, near where Campbell Parade transitions into Military Road, North Bondi is one of the most secluded areas on the coastline, with Hastings Parade, Brighton Boulevard, and Ramsgate Avenue all offering a southward view over the sand.

5. Balgowlah Heights: Median purchase: $4.13m; Median rent: $1,930

Balgowlah Heights is the most expensive suburb to rent a house in the Northern Beaches. Land sizes tend to be much larger, and you get more for your money in the area compared to the East.

The Neighbourhood
Balgowlah Heights is the harbourside southern neighbour of Balgowlah. The Sydney Harbour National Park occupies half of the leafy suburb, part of the Manly to Spit Bridge Walk, and is home to Tania Park, with a children’s playground and sporting facilities overlooking Manly Cove. Nestled on the northern shores of Sydney Harbour, it offers a serene and leafy environment.

6. Bellevue Hill: Median purchase: $10.63m; Median rent: $1,917

Bellevue Hill stands as one of Sydney’s most prestigious suburbs and has some of the largest houses by median land size.

Given the large gap between median purchase price and median rental price, it is no wonder renters want to live among $10m homes and pay under $2,000 a week, when a $10m purchase means $2m deposit, over $500k in stamp duty, and roughly $12,000 a week in repayments.

Most mansions will never make it to public rental sites and are often snapped up by Hollywood stars, musicians, or even royalty when they visit Australia.

The Neighbourhood
One of the biggest drawcards for those living in Bellevue Hill is the proximity to two of the country’s top schools. While there are no catchment areas for private schools, Cranbrook School and Scots College will always draw affluent families to the suburb. Scots fees start at around $30,000 per annum from Year One and reach nearly $50,000 by Year 12.

Sydney’s Cheapest Suburb: Tregear; Median purchase: $782,000; Median rent: $544

The cheapest suburb to rent in Sydney is Tregear, located on the outskirts of Mt Druitt, approximately 50 km west of the CBD. The median house rental is $544, which is four times cheaper than renting a house in Vaucluse. The median house price in Tregear is $782,000, around 12 times less than Vaucluse.

Sydney’s Best Suburb: Point Piper

If money were no object, it’s hard to look past Sydney’s most affluent suburb as the top pick for the best place to live in the city, in my opinion.

It doesn’t even have an actual median house price, simply because so few properties change hands. Last year, just five houses sold, ranging from $8 million to $51.5 million. Homes on the best streets offer gun-barrel views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, while the cosmopolitan Double Bay next door provides all the lifestyle conveniences.