Want Waves In Your Backyard? It'll Cost You -- A Lot

The 'Bu.

It's amazing what backyard sand, water and storm-vulnerability can do for home values. PropertyShark (via Curbed LA) crunched some numbers and discovered that beachfront property in Malibu is worth an average 122 percent more than that on the inland side of Pacific Coast Highway.

We always thought the billionaires (like Patron tequila's John Paul DeJoria) lived on the bigger lots in them there hills above the coast but, yeah, a lot of folks (David Geffen) love the smell of Nautilus in the morning. Beachside residences even do an average 51 percent better than properties also on the coastal side of PCH but without Pacific frontage.

The median price of a beachside home in Malibu is nearly $3.2 million. We always wondered why homes were built so perilously close to Mother Nature. She has a history of recapturing coastline for the sea. Bottom line: If you build it, rich people will come.