$50 Million Beach Mansion Sale Sets San Diego Record

A newly built beachfront compound in Del Mar has set a record as the most expensive residential sale in San Diego County with a $50 million close. 

The buyer is undisclosed, while the seller is a limited liability company linked to Sandra Naftzger, whose family has been prominent in cattle ranching across Arizona, California and Oregon for over a century, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Nafzgers have held the Del Mar beach property for decades.

Initially listed at $75 million in November 2024, the price was reduced to $59.5 million by this June. Even at the discounted rate, the property at 2920 Camino Del Mar remained the priciest single-family home on the market in Del Mar, a coastal enclave known for attracting high net worth residents, including the Bill Gates family. 

Listing agent Rande Turner of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty described the transaction as “a remarkable sale for San Diego coastal real estate.”

The compound features a 4,500-square-foot main residence with five bedrooms and an open-air ping-pong pavilion by the pool. It also has two guesthouses and a private beach accessible via a gated entry. The development process spanned over a decade, involving extensive permitting and the construction of a new sea wall, according to the Journal.

Sandra Naftzger and her sister sold the N3 Cattle Company ranch near Oakland in 2022 for $68 million. That property covered 50,500 acres — larger than the city of San Francisco.

The previous record residential price for San Diego County was a $47 million mansion sale in La Jolla earlier this year. In the same neighborhood, billionaire Darwin Deason is currently asking $108 million for the Sandcastle, an ornate estate inspired by the French royal palace at Versailles. 

The San Diego luxury home market, like the market to the north in Orange County, has experienced some jaw-dropping prices in recent years as money moves south from Malibu.

— Joel Russell

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