A sprawling Paradise Valley mansion just sold for $19 million without a single sheet of drywall hung inside it. The 14,131-square-foot estate at 6450 E. El Maro Circle, tucked into the golf-course enclave of Elmaro Estates, closed on August 3 while still roughly 60% finished, according to Homie.
The buyers, described only as being from California, jumped on the opportunity to purchase the home before construction wrapped, according to Chris Karas, founder and president of the Karas Group at Compass Arizona, who brought the buyer to the table, as reported by KTAR News 92.3 FM. Karas said the buyers declined to be identified, and the outlet notes he has sold several other luxury properties around the Valley. The seller, MDF Development, is based in Scottsdale and was still actively building the home when the deal closed.
The estate sits on 2.22 acres with six bedrooms and 11 bathrooms, working out to roughly $1,345 per square foot, per Homie's listing details, which also note mountain-range views from the property. Architectural plans came from Matt Thomas Architecture, with interior design by Lauren Wallace Designs and landscape architecture handled by Berghoff Design Group — the kind of design pedigree that regularly shows up on MDF Development's record-setting Valley builds, per the firm's own background materials.
A Price Cut on the Way to Closing
The home hit the market in January 2025 asking $22.5 million, or about $1,592 per square foot, before it was pulled off market and ultimately closed under construction at the lower $19 million figure, Homie's listing history shows. That $3.5 million gap reflects how negotiations tend to play out in this tier of the market, where buyers trade away control over finishing touches in exchange for a price break.
Frank DiMaggio, co-founder of MDF Development, served as listing agent on the sale. He's also managing partner of The Agency's Scottsdale office, having acquired The Agency Arizona in December 2025 and taken over ownership of its Scottsdale flagship, according to The Agency. That dual role as both builder and broker puts DiMaggio, who has amassed more than $500 million in career sales volume, in position to market and finance projects before the structural work is even finished.
DiMaggio also holds Arizona's record for raw residential land pricing, having negotiated the sale of a 1.25-acre Paradise Valley parcel for $7 million — about $129 per square foot — as part of a $12.5 million lot acquisition, according to Homes.com.
Why Buyers Won't Wait for Finished Homes
Paradise Valley's luxury market has an inventory problem baked into its zoning code. The town's 1961 incorporation rules mandate a minimum one-acre lot for every single-family home and bar commercial zoning outside special resort permits, according to The Brokery. Combine that with the fact that 75.9% of the town's 15.4 square miles is already covered by single-family homes and just 5.2% remains undeveloped, per the Inspired Living Real Estate Collective, and it's clear why buyers increasingly chase unbuilt or partially built estates rather than wait for finished inventory to hit the market.
That scarcity is showing up in the price data. Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service figures cited by YourValley.net show Paradise Valley's median home sale price climbed 13% from $3,550,000 in 2025 to $3,995,900 in 2026, making it the only Arizona municipality to post significant growth during that stretch while neighboring Scottsdale rose a more modest 8% and most other metro markets stayed flat.
Part of a Broader Mid-Construction Trend
The El Maro Circle sale isn't an isolated case. An unfinished Silver Sky estate on E Maverick Rd sold for $20 million in March before its scheduled completion, suggesting pre-completion, eight-figure purchases have become an established pattern among Paradise Valley's luxury buyers rather than a one-off.
Regional data backs up the pattern. Active luxury inventory across Greater Phoenix dropped 5% year-over-year as of July, while under-contract listings rose for 12 straight months, driven partly by out-of-state buyers from California, according to the PCG Private Client Group. Overall MLS sales volume across the Phoenix area still climbed 8% year-over-year during the same period, even as the luxury segment tightens.
For now, the identity of the California buyers behind the $19 million purchase remains unknown, per Karas's comments to KTAR News. What is clear is that in a market this land-constrained, waiting for the drywall to go up is apparently no longer part of the plan for Paradise Valley's wealthiest house hunters.
