See Elon Musk's properties over the years, from mansions in Bel Air to his secret house in Texas
Jordan Pandy
- Elon Musk made headlines in 2020 after announcing he was selling all of his homes.
- Until then, Musk lived lavishly in a few different properties in California and Texas.
In 2020, Elon Musk wrote on X that he was selling "almost all physical possessions," adding that he would no longer own a house.
The SpaceX CEO and billionaire, originally from South Africa, amassed quite a real-estate portfolio in California in a short amount of time. There was even a time when he owned multiple houses in the same neighborhood.
Musk was living like you might expect one of the richest people in the world to live, with multimillion-dollar mansions and amenities like pools and tennis courts at his disposal.
According to Forbes, Musk's net worth was $252.6 billion as of September 2024. He can afford to have a handful of properties, so selling them isn't completely for the cash. He added on X that he wasn't getting rid of his properties for the money but instead devoting himself to Mars and Earth. "Possession just weighs you down," he wrote.
Sticking to his word, Musk has had a flurry of property sales in the last few years and later claimed to be couch-surfing. At the least, he was downsizing at one point while living in a tiny home near SpaceX's launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, but Business Insider uncovered that he bought a property in Austin and had been living there since 2022.
Even with at least one property still in his possession, he's unloaded millions of dollars worth of square footage recently. Take a look at some of the properties Musk has owned over the last few years.
After renting for two years, Musk bought a mansion in the Bel Air, California neighborhood.
Elon Musk's first venture into the swanky California neighborhood of Bel Air was in 2012 when he bought a $17 million, 16,251-square-foot mansion.
Musk initially rented the seven-bedroom home starting in 2010 but decided he wanted to live there permanently. The house has a two-story library, a pool and tennis court in the backyard, and views overlooking Bel-Air Country Club.
After he pledged to sell all of his properties, he listed the mansion for $30 million in 2020. The Wall Street Journal reported that it was sold to Chinese billionaire William Ding.
Musk bought a somewhat historic property on the same street as his other Bel Air mansion.
Just a year after his first Bel Air purchase, Musk bought his neighbor's house for $6.75 million. That neighbor was the late Gene Wilder.
Drew Meyers of Westside Estate Agency told BI in August that the property has a pool, gardens, and views of the nearby country club and the ocean.
The four-bedroom, 2,750-square-foot house was built in 1951 and has wood-beamed ceilings and multiple fireplaces throughout.
Musk eventually sold the property in 2020 to screenwriter Elizabeth Hunter and her husband Jordan Walker-Pearlman, Wilder's nephew, for $7 million.
The Wilder mansion was recently foreclosed on.
Not only did Musk sell the property to Walker-Pearlman and his wife, Hunter, but the Journal reported that the SpaceX CEO also loaned the couple $6.7 million.
Musk originally listed the home at $9.5 million, but because he wanted the property preserved, he sold it to the couple at a discounted price — and provided financing.
The Journal reported that the couple fell behind on payments, and Musk's representatives filed a notice of default in July to start the foreclosure process.
The home is being listed by Meyers for $12.95 million.
"There's no tragedy here. Elon gave us a magical opportunity. I have no complaints," Walker-Pearlman told the Journal, adding that he and Hunter "owe him such a spiritual debt."
Musk then bought four additional properties in Los Angeles.
In 2015, Musk bought yet another Bel Air property for $20 million, a 7,000-square-foot house with six bedrooms.
That same year, he bought another mansion for $4.3 million but, according to the Journal, did not maintain it well.
A year later, he bought an unfinished mansion in Bel Air for $24.25 million. A couple of years later, he bought a colonial-style mansion worth an estimated $4.2 million.
Musk listed these four homes for a collective $62.5 million in 2020 and sold them approximately six months later.
The tech mogul also had a huge property in the Bay Area.
Being a tech titan means owning property in Silicon Valley — at least for a while.
Musk bought a 16,000-square-foot mansion in Hillsborough, California, a Bay Area suburb about 20 miles outside San Francisco, for $23.4 million in 2017.
The more than 100-year-old, Mediterranean-style mansion has 10 bedrooms, views of the San Francisco Bay, and sits on 47 acres.
He originally listed the property for $37.5 million and later reduced the price to $32 million, where it eventually found a buyer.
Musk’s less than 400-square-foot studio in Texas.
During Musk's journey to rid himself of his physical possessions, he made a pitstop and bought a $50,000 tiny home in Boca Chica, Texas — where SpaceX has a launching facility.
"In 2020, Musk decided to sell his five grand houses and to have as his primary residence this spartan two-bedroom house in Boca Chica, TX, where we would meet, and he would sit at this wood table and make phone calls," biographer Walter Isaacson wrote on X.
In 2021, Boxabl installed one of their 375-square-foot homes — a "Casita" — on SpaceX's launch site and said it was for a "top secret customer." After claims of couch surfing, Musk said on a podcast in July 2022 that he used a Boxabl as a guest house.
Musk owned a “secret” house in Austin for years.
A BI review of court records in Musk's custody dispute with former girlfriend Grimes revealed the billionaire owned property in Austin.
Records showed that Musk purchased a home in February 2022 and claimed he still lived there.
"In February 2022, I bought the home on [redacted] where [redacted] and I still live," Musk said in the complaint.
Although BI is withholding the address for privacy reasons, Zillow says the house is nearly 7,000 square feet and was built in 2017.
BI's Grace Kay and Jack Newsham reported that a couple bought the house in 2018 after it was listed for $4.5 million. It was resold in 2022 but never listed publicly, records showed.
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