Qatari royals seek to recoup costs on US$400 million Los Angeles mansion

[LOS ANGELES] A mansion built for the Qatari royal family in the Los Angeles district of Bel-Air has hit the market with a US$400 million asking price, a potential record for a US home sale.

The property, completed in 2018 after nearly eight years of planning and construction, is perched on an eight-acre hilltop with sweeping views stretching from downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean. It features indoor and outdoor pools, a tennis court and gatehouse dedicated to security.

Even at that price, the seller would be unlikely to break even on the investment, according to Michael Fahimian, an agent with Beverly Hills Estates who shares the listing with Jack Harris.

Construction alone cost US$350 million at roughly US$5,000 a square foot for the approximately 70,000-square-foot estate, according to Fahimian. The land was acquired for US$35 million and closing costs – including commissions and transfer taxes – would total about US$40 million, he added.

“The money invested into it rivals if not exceeds the list price,” he said. “We thought going above that would be just asking too much.”

The Bel-Air three-structure estate was assessed for tax purposes in 2025 at US$121 million, according to county records.

Fahimian declined to name the owner and said he did not ask why the property is being sold.

“I don’t ask questions,” he said. “They own beautiful properties all over the world. This is just one that they’re potentially looking to get rid of in their portfolio.”

Prices for ultra-luxury mansions have been rising in recent years in the US and globally. Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man, bought a five-floor luxury apartment in Monaco’s most prestigious new development for an eye-popping 471 million euros (S$705 million).

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Nick Candy sold his family home in London’s exclusive Chelsea district for more than £270 million (S$466 million), while the top US home price is US$238 million for a Manhattan penthouse bought by Citadel founder Ken Griffin that has recently been at the centre of a political backlash.

Qatar has used its vast gas reserves to transform itself into one of the world’s richest countries, home to the Al Thani royal family that wields an approximately US$200 billion fortune. The Al Thanis own trophy homes across the globe, including Paris, Sardinia and London, where Qataris own so many properties that one area earned the nickname “Little Doha.”

The Gulf state is among the biggest exporters of liquefied natural gas, though the ongoing conflict since the US and Israel attacked Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has impacted production facilities and Doha’s ability to ship LNG.

The potential sale also comes ahead of a California referendum in November to tax the wealth of billionaires who live in the state, which has led many ultra-wealthy residents to exit the state. Google co-founder Sergey Brin, the fourth-richest man in the world, left California last year to avoid the billionaire tax.

The Bel-Air property is officially registered to Chalon Holdings in care of Tom Harrison, who did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Harrison formerly worked for a unit of Colony Capital, a firm founded by Tom Barrack, the current US ambassador to Turkey.

Barrack was involved in several deals with Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, better known as HBJ, who led Qatar from 2007 to 2013 and oversaw its wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. Barrack coordinated the construction of the Bel-Air mansion for HBJ, Bloomberg reported in 2018.

Hamad Al Thani’s son, Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, graduated from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles during the period the home was under construction, before returning to the Middle East, according to a 2020 report by the Los Angeles Times.

The listing was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The main residence has 10 family bedrooms and 13 staff bedrooms. A guest house includes six family bedrooms and 10 staff bedrooms. The architect was Peter Marino, a noted commercial and residential real estate designer. Construction was overseen by Peter McCoy, a builder of many of this century’s most lavish Los Angeles-area estates. BLOOMBERG