Malibu Fire Victims Watch Helplessly as Foreign Billionaires Buy Up Their Burned Neighborhood

Prefab Homes From China Spark Outrage

One year after the Palisades Fire gutted more than 700 homes in Malibu, a pair of billionaire brothers from New Zealand have swooped in and bought 16 burned-out beachfront lots.

Nick and Mat Mowbray made their fortune selling toys manufactured in China.

Now they want to rebuild the Malibu coastline using prefab homes designed by artificial intelligence and shipped from their Chinese factory. Longtime residents are not happy.

They worry the foreign investors will price them out of the community they lost to the flames.

$65 Million for Ashes and Ocean Views

The Mowbray brothers spent around $65 million on the 16 properties, purchasing them through their construction company Zuru Tech.

Most of the lots sit on La Costa and Carbon beaches, two of the most expensive stretches of sand in California.

A luxury real estate agent helped the brothers quietly acquire the land, sometimes approaching homeowners who had not even listed their properties.

Some sellers had owned their beachfront homes for decades before the fire took everything.

The Fire That Changed Malibu Forever

The Palisades Fire started in the Santa Monica Mountains on January 7, 2025, and by nightfall it was racing down the canyons toward the Pacific Ocean.

The blaze killed 12 people and destroyed 6,831 structures across Malibu and Pacific Palisades, making it the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history. In Malibu alone, 720 homes burned to the ground.

Many belonged to families who had lived there for generations.

City Councilman Calls Out the Brothers

Malibu City Councilman Steve Uhring has been one of the most vocal critics of the Mowbray purchases. He worries the brothers will combine their 16 lots to build massive estates that only the ultra-wealthy can afford.

Uhring says Malibu needs homeowners who live there full-time, shop at local stores, and send their kids to local schools. He believes the New Zealand billionaires are in it purely for profit.

Zuru Tech Promises Fire-Safe Homes

The Mowbrays say their intentions are good. Their company, Zuru Tech, plans to build 16 separate homes using a construction system they developed in China.

The walls are made from aerated autoclaved concrete, a lightweight material that resists fire and provides insulation. The roofs are also concrete.

Marcel Fontijn, director of operations for Zuru Tech, says each home can be produced in four to six weeks at their factory and shipped to California for assembly.

From Balloon Kits to Billion-Dollar Empire

Nick and Mat Mowbray grew up on a dairy farm in Cambridge, New Zealand. As teenagers, they sold homemade hot air balloon kits that Mat designed for a school science fair.

In 2003, when Nick was 18 and Mat was 24, they moved to China with a $20,000 loan from their parents and started a toy factory. They slept in tiny apartments and ate at the cheapest restaurants.

Their big break came when Walmart started stocking their products.

Robo Fish and Bunch O Balloons

Zuru became a global giant by creating toys that parents actually wanted to buy.

Robo Fish, a battery-powered fish that swims when it hits water, pulled in $100 million in sales and became the world’s fastest-selling toy in 2013.

Bunch O Balloons, which lets you fill and seal 100 water balloons in seconds, dominated American summers. The brothers expanded into diapers, pet food, and hair care products.

Today they are worth an estimated $20 billion combined.

Malibu Permits Are Crawling

One year after the Palisades Fire, Malibu has issued only 22 building permits. Meanwhile, the city of Los Angeles has approved more than 1,300 permits in Pacific Palisades.

The difference comes down to geography and bureaucracy.

Malibu sits between eroding cliffs and rising seas, and every rebuild requires geological tests, septic system upgrades, and sea wall assessments.

City officials say half of the burned homes sat on the water, and another 30 percent were on steep slopes.

Septic Tanks and Sea Walls Cost a Fortune

Building on the Malibu coast has never been easy, but post-fire rules have made it even harder.

The city now requires homeowners to replace old septic systems with advanced wastewater treatment systems that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sea walls must be reinforced to withstand rising tides and storm surge.

Some residents have spent a year just waiting for geological surveys to confirm their blufftop lots are stable enough to build on.

Lot Prices Are Dropping Fast

With so few permits being issued, many Malibu homeowners have given up on rebuilding. Nearly half of the 160 burned lots still on the market have already received price cuts.

Some properties are selling for 20 to 60 percent below their pre-fire values. In the Big Rock neighborhood, one lot listed for $1.65 million in September has already been reduced twice.

The median lot in Malibu now sells for $1.3 million, a fraction of what these beachfront properties were once worth.

Investors Are Scooping Up 40% of Lots

The Mowbrays are not the only buyers circling Malibu.

According to a Redfin analysis, real estate investors purchased roughly 40 percent of all vacant lots sold in fire zones during the third quarter of 2025.

In Malibu specifically, investors bought 19 of 43 lots, more than double their share from a year earlier.

Many displaced homeowners, especially elderly residents with inadequate insurance, are accepting lowball offers because they cannot afford to wait any longer.

Insurance Has Run Out for Many Families

Fire victims face an impossible situation. Insurance policies that covered temporary housing for the past year are running dry.

Construction costs have doubled in some cases, far exceeding what insurers will pay. Permit approvals that might take weeks elsewhere can stretch into years in Malibu.

Some families have already moved to other cities and given up on ever coming back. Those who remain say the only solution is faster permitting so residents actually want to rebuild.

Zuru Says First Homes Ready by 2027

The Mowbray brothers insist they are not trying to build mega-mansions or flip the properties for quick profit.

Zuru Tech says it will construct 16 individual homes, each designed to match the size of what stood there before the fire. The company expects to complete the first two homes by late 2027, with all 16 finished by 2029.

Whether Malibu residents will welcome their new neighbors remains to be seen. For now, the burned lots sit empty, waiting.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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