Malibu

The Rindge family held the Rancho Malibu as a private estate into the 1920s, resisting the road that became Pacific Coast Highway, and the Malibu Colony began as movie-star leases on Rindge land. The city incorporated in 1991 largely to control development, and it has kept a low-density, semi-rural character along most of its length despite some of the highest home values in the country.

Malibu is long and thin. The eastern section from Topanga to Carbon Canyon and Las Flores is the closest to Santa Monica; the Civic Center, the Colony, Malibu Road and Pepperdine are in the middle; Point Dume, Zuma and Malibu Park lie to the west; and Broad Beach, Trancas, Encinal Canyon and the western canyons run to the county line. The Franklin Fire and the Palisades Fire damaged parts of the eastern and central city, and rebuilding is under way.

Beachfront property on the sand, from Carbon Beach and La Costa to the Colony, Malibu Road and Broad Beach, sets the top of the Southern California market. Inland, Point Dume’s bluff-top streets, Serra Retreat and the ridge estates above PCH carry large homes with ocean views on acre-plus lots, and Malibu Park and the western canyons offer more land at lower prices per acre.

Condos are limited and concentrated near Malibu Road, the Civic Center and Las Flores, and the mobile home parks at Paradise Cove and Point Dume are a market of their own. Fire-hazard zoning and insurance, septic systems, Coastal Commission rules, private road agreements and, on the beach, seawall and sea-level issues are part of due diligence on almost every property.

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District serves the city, with Malibu High School, Malibu Elementary and Webster Elementary, and Pepperdine University sits above the Civic Center. Some campuses have been affected by the fires, so check the current status and boundaries with the district.

Pacific Coast Highway is the only road along the coast, and it carries all of Malibu’s traffic to Santa Monica and the 10 to the east and toward Oxnard to the west. Malibu Canyon Road and Kanan Dume Road cross the mountains to the 101 at Calabasas and Agoura Hills, and Topanga Canyon and Decker Canyon offer alternatives. Post-fire construction and PCH repairs have affected travel times on the eastern stretch.