SpaceX's June 12 IPO was estimated to have created roughly 4,400 new millionaires, and South Bay real estate agents say a growing number of them are targeting Manhattan Beach and neighboring beach cities. With the company's California operations still based in Hawthorne, just minutes from the sand, the newly wealthy buyers are looking close to home.
The IPO debuted at $135 per share, briefly topped $200 and raised nearly $86 billion, creating a wave of liquidity among current and former employees and investors. Now those dollars are chasing houses.
"The SpaceX IPO is so unique because it's literally in our own backyard," Nicole Plaxen, an agent with Sotheby's International Realty in Beverly Hills, told The Ankler.
Gerard Bisignano, a partner at Vista Sotheby's International Realty, said he has fielded inquiries from several longtime SpaceX employees, primarily in their mid-30s to early 40s, searching for homes in Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and Palos Verdes Estates, according to Breitbart. He compared the moment to Facebook's 2012 IPO, after which home values near that company's headquarters rose 21%.
The price bracket agents expect to feel the most pressure: $2 million to $6 million. Lynnsey Ross, an agent with Douglas Elliman, identified that range in a late-July interview with the New York Post as the segment where SpaceX buyers will land most often.
One early signal: a former SpaceX employee recently paid $14 million for a 7,400-square-foot Hermosa Beach home with seven bedrooms, a home theater and a pool, according to The Ankler.
That sale set a neighborhood record.
Lockup shares now hitting the market
The buying pressure stands to intensify. SpaceX's insider lockup period began expiring Aug. 7, freeing up to 911.5 million shares valued at roughly $101 billion. A second tranche of 319 million shares was released Aug. 12, with additional tranches continuing through early December on a staggered nine-stage schedule.
Financial advisor Evan Mills, who works with current and former SpaceX employees, said in an Aug. 6 report that the lockup expiration represents the first real opportunity for employees to convert paper wealth into spendable cash.
SpaceX stock has fallen sharply from its June 16 peak of $225.64, closing at $108.27 on Aug. 6, well below its IPO price. But agents say interest has not cooled. Many employees received shares at prices far below the IPO, meaning even at reduced valuations their holdings represent life-changing money.
A market already running hot
Manhattan Beach was already setting records before the lockup opened. Through April, the city logged $491.2 million in closed sales, a 7.5% year-over-year increase, with a median sale price of $3.8 million, according to MB News. Twenty-four properties closed at $6 million or more in that span, matching the combined total from the same period in 2024 and 2025.
Inventory remains tight. As of April 30, Manhattan Beach had just 59 active listings citywide. Sellers are reportedly adding a "SpaceX premium" to asking prices in anticipation of demand, the New York Post reported.
David Berg, co-founder of Smith & Berg Property Group, told the Post in late July that the SpaceX effect is real but cautioned it's too soon to call it a wave, noting that Los Angeles already attracts enormous wealth.
The complete 180-day lockup runs through early December, with a separate extended lockup covering CEO Elon Musk lasting until June 2027. Each new tranche could send another round of buyers into the South Bay market.
