Buyers including Kanye West and Snapchat’s Evan Spiegel contributed to a record-breaking year, as the pandemic inspired the ultra-wealthy to invest more time and money in their homes.

Tech billionaires and music moguls dominate the list of the priciest L.A. real estate transactions in 2021. Numerous records were broken — including for the most expensive home ever purchased in California — as the ultra-rich invested in mini-fiefdoms that give them few reasons to ever leave the house.

According to Branden Williams of Beverly Hills Estates, the pandemic has made wealthy buyers double down on home life. “People really realize how important their home is. Homes are becoming their everything,” he says. “Their gyms, their theaters, where they work out of. Especially after lockdown, I think people just really want their home to be their sanctuary.”

Amenities like private theaters, saunas, recording studios and panic rooms are a must, as is a feeling of comfort and calm. The easier it is for these busy billionaires to move in, and the more things they can do from home, the more they are willing to pay. This has led to stratospherically priced spec homes (like No. 4 on our list), designed with the 1 percent of the 1 percent in mind.

“There’s one thing in common with all of these year-end, record-breaking sales and that is, they’re all exceptional,” Rayni Williams of Beverly Hills Estates says. “Exceptional in that they tick every box of a buyer’s needs.”

1. Marc Andreessen and Laura Arrillaga’s $177 Million Malibu Record Breaker

This November, tech venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and his wife, the real estate heiress Laura Arrillaga, broke records for the priciest home ever purchased in the state of California. The power couple laid out an astonishing $177 million for a blufftop seven-acre compound in Malibu, which includes 13 buildings designed in a contemporary farmhouse feel by architect Scott Mitchell. The luxe compound features pools and spa amenities, a stand-alone cinema, an enormous collector’s garage, and panoramic views of the Malibu Coast. Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency repped the buyers and the seller, fashion tycoon Serge Azria, who spent years renovating the property. “I’m proud someone wants to pay this kind of price for something I created,” Azria told the Wall Street Journal earlier this year. Pay, they did!

3. $87 Million for More Leg Room in Malibu

In February, WhatsApp founder Jan Koum laid out $87 million for socialite Diana Jenkins’s 1960s ranch-style Malibu estate. It was a relatively modest sum compared to the $100 million Koum had spent for the house next door in 2019, purchased from film exec Ron Meyer in 2019. The neighbors haven’t always been so cozy: Koum accused Jenkins — who is set to join The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills —o f “Karen-like-behavior,” but it seems differences have been smoothed over with big bucks. Chris Cortazzo of Compass repped Jenkins, while Kurt Rappaport repped Koum.

10. $51.65 Million For Eli Broad’s Malibu Manse

Designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Richard Meier, this futuristic Malibu beach house on exclusive Carbon Beach was built for philanthropist Eli Broad in 2002. Broad had been trying to sell the striking home for years, and it finally sold two months after his death, to an unidentified buyer. Chris Cortazzo repped the buyer. Branden and Rayni Williams of Beverly Hills Estates and Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency shared the listing.

Click here to read the full article on hollywoodreporter.com.