Henderson home breaks 2021 record with $14.69M price tag

A Henderson estate dubbed the house of water and located in the exclusive hillside community of Ascaya closed Thursday for $14.69 million, making it the highest price paid for a single-family home in 2021 and third-highest price ever paid for a home in Las Vegas history.

The transaction comes as the Las Vegas Valley continues its record-setting luxury sales pace in 2021. Meanwhile, a newly built Blue Heron showhome in MacDonald Highlands listed for $28 million is under contract, according to Realtor Rob Jensen, the owner of Rob Jensen Co., who tracks the luxury market. The contract price on the Multiple Listing Service wasn’t disclosed, he said.

Jensen said there have been 56 sales of $4 million and above for single-family homes in the valley so far in 2021, not counting the one recorded Thursday in Ascaya. That’s five more sales of $4 million and above than were recorded in all of 2020. There were 20 such sales in 2019, according to Jensen.

The Ascaya home that measures 12,100 square feet and sits on more than 2 acres belonged to 80-year-plus bachelor Stan Gribble who Real Estate Millions profiled in 2018 when he put his home on the market. It has a swimming pool that measures nearly 6,000 square feet, whereas luxury-home pools normally measure 2,000 to 3,000 square feet.

Called Villa Azul or Blue House by its builder, Sun West Custom Homes, the single-story home has been purchased by a Colorado entrepreneurial couple.

Sun West Luxury Realty owner Dan Coletti, who owns Sun West Custom Homes, was the listing agent of record. Realtor Patty Martinez was the saleswoman involved in the transaction for Sun West. Ivan Sher with the Ivan Sher Group of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Nevada Properties was the buyer’s agent.

Sher said the couple previously bought a new home, which he called “a large purchase” in the valley. After six months of living here, they fell in love with Henderson and Las Vegas and wanted a bigger and more permanent home, he said. They have multiple properties in other states.

Sher holds the all-time sales record in Las Vegas at $17.55 million when magician David Copperfield bought a home in 2016 on the so-called Billionaires Row in Summerlin. The No. 2. sale in history for single-family homes was $16 million paid in 2019 for a newly built megamansion in Spanish Hills owned by developer Jim Rhodes. The name of the buyer wasn’t disclosed.

The previous No. 3 sale was a 14,464-square-foot home in The Ridges in Summerlin built by Sun West Custom Homes in 2009. It went for $14.5 million in December 2020. The buyer was LV Raiders LLC, which has a Palo Alto, California, mailing address. The entity has a wealth management firm listed as its officers.

‘Such an amazing home’

The Gribble home in Ascaya is one story with five bedrooms, a full casita, eight bathrooms and a six-car garage. There’s a formal dining room and a kitchen with a separate prep kitchen. The home has a theater room, game room and study.

In addition to the oversized pool, the backyard has an outdoor kitchen, sport court, spa, cold plunge and putting green. It has views that overlook the Strip and valley.

“It feels great,” Martinez said of the 2021 record sale of a home. “It’s such an amazing home, and they’re going to enjoy it. The sale in this price range had to be the right buyer at the right time, and this was the right time. Two years ago, we couldn’t get this price. It says the market can bear these higher-end homes at the prices they are worth.”

The Las Vegas luxury housing market remains on a roll with the latest sale and record-setting pace of sales of $1 million and above on the Multiple Listing Service. Through May, there were 687 sales of $1 million and higher of both high-rise condos and single-family homes. There were 825 such sales for 12 months of 2020 when last year set the all-time record, according to Forrest Barbee, corporate broker with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.

“The face of luxury is changing in this city,” Sher said. “With all the new construction and higher-end products coming on the market, it’s all going to shift. We’re seeing a new type of luxury that’s coming on the resale market in Las Vegas. What used to be the highest end ever thought of in the city is going to be the high-medium.”

It’s driven by out-of-state buyers coming from more sophisticated markets and higher levels of expectation, Sher said.

“As some of the homes in the Summit (in Summerlin), The Ridges (in Summerlin), Ascaya and MacDonald Highlands (in Henderson) start to trade, some of these incredible builds are going to reshape where the luxury market has been,” he said.

“We’re going to start seeing homes sell for double compared to the $15 million to $17 million homes in the past,” Sher added. “There is more demand than properties and the properties in demand are one-of-a-kind, which means they will be the most expensive. Clients that I am getting are people looking for the ultimate home in Las Vegas and money is no object.”