A backyard pickleball court. An in-home ice rink. A golf course — these are just a few of the perks that come with owning some of the most expensive homes sold in the Bay Area last year.

Of the 10 priciest sales, half were in the tony Peninsula community of Atherton, known as the most expensive city in the country.

Here’s the list of the top homes sold in 2024 in the five-county Bay Area:

Originally designed in 1917 and then rebuilt in 2013, 202 Camino Al Lago features an array of marble, onyx and hand-selected mosaics and tiles. (Courtesy of Gullixson Team and Compass) 

10. 202 Camino Al Lago, Atherton | $23M

In October, Christopher Varelas, founding partner of venture capital firm Riverwood Capital and former executive at the investment bank Salomon Brothers, and wife Jessica sold their 8,499-square-foot Italian-style villa. The buyer was Dmytro Gerasymenko, CEO of the Singapore-based tech company Ahrefs, and Natthaya Meundaeng Gerasymenko, a university lecturer who now runs a crepe joint in Singapore.

Originally designed in 1917 and then rebuilt in 2013, the home features an array of marble, onyx and hand-selected mosaics and tiles, according to the listing.

9. 84 Stockbridge Ave., Atherton | $23.75M

After buying this empty lot in Atherton for $6.9 million in 2019, Atherton-based developer Abergel built this 11,175-square-foot home with seven-bedrooms, eight bathrooms, as well as a gym, movie theater, steam room, sauna and wine room.

The buyers were listed as Lani Kapur Rains Trust and Coit Tower Trust. Kapur is director of wealth management for the San Francisco wealth manager Aspiriant.

3630 Jackson St. in San Francisco was under renovation, as of Monday, Jan. 6, 2024. (Kate Talerico / Bay Area News Group) 

8. 3630 Jackson St., San Francisco | $24M

It was the home that ignited a pickleball controversy. This mansion sits next to the Presidio Wall, a popular “pickling” destination in San Francisco. In 2023, the home’s owners, Holly Peterson and her husband Karl Peterson, a venture capitalist and founder of Hotwire.com, started a petition to have the courts environmentally assessed due to the potential noise impact on migrating birds. When the home went up for sale later that year, the listing revealed that the Petersons have their own private pickleball court in their backyard.

The Petersons purchased the home for $16.65 million in 2007, the Wall Street Journal reported. Designed by renowned architect Julia Morgan, the home was built in 1917 for Abraham Rosenberg, a dried-fruit baron in the late 19th century.

The buyer was 3630 Jackson LLC, which is registered to a P.O. box in Fort Worth, Texas, associated with Kelvin Lloyd Davis, head of North American Buyouts Group within the Fort Worth-based Texas Pacific Group. The home is currently undergoing extensive renovations.

7. 289 Park Lane, Atherton | $24.3M

Immanuel Thangaraj, a venture capitalist with a focus on the health care industry, sold this new-build home of 12,352 square feet sits on 1.4 acres in West Atherton. The buyer was 289 Park Lane LLC, an LLC registered to a UPS mailbox in Saratoga, is affiliated with a trust in the names of Ji Zhao and Chengyu Guo.

Venture capitalist George Sarlo — who survived the Holocaust and went on to cofound Walden Venture Capital, an investor in Pandora Media — sold his 8,000-square-foot home in San Francisco’s exclusive Sea Cliff neighborhood, with the proceeds going to his family foundation, which primarily benefits families around the Bay Area. (Courtesy of Sotheby’s International Realty, Photos by Todd Goodman) 

6. 290 Sea Cliff Ave., San Francisco | $26M

Venture capitalist George Sarlo — who survived the Holocaust and went on to cofound Walden Venture Capital, an investor in Pandora Media — sold his 8,000-square-foot home in San Francisco’s exclusive Sea Cliff neighborhood, with the proceeds going to his family foundation, which primarily benefits families around the Bay Area. It was the most expensive property ever sold in the neighborhood.

Sarlo bought the property for $2.2 million in 1993. Since then, he has updated the house with a new kitchen and breakfast room, a two-car garage and electric vehicle charging stations.

Tania Toubba, the listing agent, said that ahead of showing the home, her team worked to curate an art installation within the home’s entertaining spaces that “elevated the home’s perceived value” and “resonated powerfully with discerning buyers.”

The buyer is a 290 Water, LLC, a company formed in July in Delaware.

George Sarlo’s former residence at 290 Sea Cliff Ave. in San Francisco. (Courtesy of Sotheby’s International Realty, Photos by Todd Goodman) 
275 Camino Al Lago in Atherton, Calif. sold for $29 million in 2024. (Matt Anello, Blu Skye Media, Inc. / Courtesy of Christie’s International Real Estate Sereno) 

5. 275 Camino Al Lago, Atherton | $29M

Palo Alto-based NexGen Builders sold this 11,300-square-foot new-build in West Atherton in June 2024. According to property records, the buyer was Stellar Prosperity LLC, a company affiliated with Luxshare Tech, a major Chinese supplier for Apple products, and whose technology is also used in AI data centers. The company’s cofounder is Wang Laichun, who in 2021 ranked as the second-richest woman in China.

The listing agent, Nathalie de Saint Andrieu, said that she couldn’t disclose the buyer, but said that the listing attracted several people working in tech, as well as foreign buyers. She said that the home’s appeal was its “quiet luxury” feel, in which “the quality and elegance of the home took precedence over the ‘stuff.’”

4. 2799 Broadway, San Francisco | $29M

After sitting on the market for two years, this four-story, 11,690 square-foot Pacific Heights home sold in August 2024, making it the year’s second-most-expensive property sold in San Francisco.

The mansion, built in 2004, had been listed at $39 million by its owners, Michael and Xochi Birch, founders of the social networking company Bebo, which they sold to AOL for $850 million in 2008. The pair also founded The Battery, an exclusive members-only club in San Francisco’s Jackson Square neighborhood. The buyer was Stone Real Estate Holdings LLC, which is registered to the Redwood City offices of global accounting firm Baker Tilly.

Among the home’s custom features: an entryway with 20-foot ceilings, a hidden wine cellar and its own English pub, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The mansion, built in 2004, had been listed at $39 million by its owners, Michael and Xochi Birch, founders of the social networking company Bebo, which they sold to AOL for $850 million in 2008. The pair also founded The Battery, an exclusive members-only club in San Francisco’s Jackson Square neighborhood. Among the home’s custom features are an entryway with 20-foot ceilings, a hidden wine cellar, and its own English pub. (Lunghi Studio for Sotheby’s International Realty) 

3. 30 Atherton Ave., Atherton | $31.8M 

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This 13,525 square-foot home in Atherton sold in August. The seller was Samuel Bronfman II, heir to the Seagram’s liquor fortune who, at 21, was kidnapped for ransom and whose sister, Clare, was sentenced to prison for her role in the sex cult Nxvim.

Bronfman purchased the home in 1986 with his wife, according to Mansion Global, and originally listed it for sale at $42 million in September 2023. Bronfman served as the former executive of his family’s firm and co-founded Bacchus Capital Management, a wine investment company where he is a managing partner.

The buyer was an LLC called Starry Garden Group, whose CEO is listed as Ingrid Wu, a Chinese billionaire and founder of AAC Technologies Holdings, which manufactures miniature speakers and microphones for Apple and Samsung devices.

Set amid tall redwoods on a 3.17-acre lot, the house includes seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, according to the listing. Though originally constructed in 1932, the property was rebuilt in 2001, with even more extensive renovations to the kitchen and family room in 2020, according to the listing. Amenities include a “5,000-bottle wine cellar,” according to Mansion Global, as well as a pool and spa, a newly resurfaced tennis court and a five-car garage.

2. 610 Los Trancos Road, Palo Alto | $35M

Hardware company Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy and his wife, Susan, finally sold their Portola Valley mansion for $35 million — $61.8 million less than the asking price when they first listed the estate over six years ago. The buyer was Zenith Path LLC, which lists Huan Zhao as the company’s organizer. (“John” Huan Zhao is also the name of the chairman of Hony Capital, one of China’s first major private equity firms. He spent his early career working in Silicon Valley.)

Set on 13 acres, the home includes five bedrooms, 7.5 baths, an ice rink, a golf course, a home theater, a gym with a rock-climbing wall and a hidden-away “panic room.” McNealy, 70, a longtime Republican donor, hosted a fundraiser for Donald Trump there during his 2020 campaign for president, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The McNealys originally bought the home in 2008 after Scott stepped down as CEO of Sun Microsystems, which was acquired by Oracle for $7.4 billion in 2010.

2840 Broadway, San Francisco | $70M

Steve Jobs’ widow Laurene Powell Jobs, 60, set records for the most expensive home in San Francisco when she paid $70 million for a mansion on Pacific Heights’ “Billionaires’ Row.”

The sellers were Sloan Lindemann Barnett and Roger Barnett, CEO of the health-supplement maker Shaklee, who bought the estate for $33 million in 2011, according to Mansion Global.

While they owned it, the Barnetts also completed extensive renovations on the home, led by the architect Peter Marino, according to a 2020 Architectural Digest magazine feature. At that time, the 17,000-square-foot home featured a Moroccan-style lounge with hand-carved woodwork and an interior courtyard with a glass roof.

The home was Powell Jobs’ second major real-estate purchase of 2024 — she also bought a $94 million oceanfront property in Malibu, adding to her compound in the city’s Paradise Cove neighborhood.