Palos Verdes Real Estate Blog

Sales for Palos Verdes real estate single family homes in the first 21 days of October have slightly increased compared to sales to date for this time last month (27).  30 Palos Verdes houses have been reported as sold to date since October 1, 2011.  (It may take an additional week for some sales to post after the actual close of escrow).  The average sales price for single family Palos Verdes homes for October to date is $1,344,917 which is down from last months average of $1,538,670.

In October 2011 to date, the highest priced Palos Verdes home sold for $7,150,000 in the city of Rancho Palos Verdes in Trump Estates; it was a custom built 11,000 square foot home with 5 bedrooms and 9 baths with panoramic ocean/Catalina views, a library/office, a game room, wine room, an infinity pool/spa, and a 4-car garage on a 9,797 square foot lot.  The lowest priced Palos Verdes home sold to date in October for $654,000 and is located in the Eastview area of Rancho Palos Verdes; this home has 2,136 square feet, 4 bedrooms and 2 baths on a 9,217 square foot lot.

We currently have 252 active single family Palos Verdes homes for sale priced between $680,000 in Rancho Palos Verdes and $14,900,000 also in Rancho Palos Verdes (the low in Eastview is $449,900).  To view Palos Verdes real estate statistics from July 2010 through September 2011, click here or on the “Statistics” tab above.

September 2011 statistics for Palos Verdes real estate show a decrease in the number of sales and another increase in the average price for a Palos Verdes home sold in September.  44 Palos Verdes houses sold/closed escrow in September compared to 59 single family homes sold in August.  Average sales price for Palos Verdes homes sold in September was $1,396,000 compared to $1,306,000 for August.  51 Palos Verdes houses had pending sales in September compared to 68 homes in August.  If this trend continues, sales may be slowing down a little earlier than last year.

Inventory of active Palos Verdes homes for sale was 268, continuing to fall from 278 in August which makes the market a little tighter for buyers.  In September 2011, price per square foot for Palos Verdes houses that sold/closed escrow was $472 up slightly from $467 in August.  Average days on market in September increased to 86 days from 65 days in August for properties sold that month.  Months of inventory (months it would take to sell existing inventory at the current rate of sale) was 6.1 months for September compared to 4.7 months in August.  We are still within the “normal market” range which is 6 months. Entire charts can be accessed by clicking here or on the “Statistics” tab above.

Currently, there are 260 single family Palos Verdes homes for sale.  104 Palos Verdes houses are in escrow (48 homes have pending sales and 56 homes are accepting backup offers).  Additionally, 10 homes have sold/closed escrow in the first 12 days of October with an average sales price of $1,188,750 which is significantly less than this time last month when we had several high priced property sales.

Chart courtesy of Trendgraphix, Inc.

How are Palos Verdes homes owners doing when it comes to equity in their homes and how many distressed sales do we have?

A recent LA Times article states that half of homes owners nationally have at least 25% equity in their homes and about one quarter of homeowners with mortgages have more than 50% equity in their homes.  In California, the numbers are slightly higher.  My guess would be that Palos Verdes houses have fared even better because of “the stable, relatively affluent, low-construction characteristics of high-equity areas.”  Click here to read LA Times article regarding Homeowner Equity.

California Association of Realtors’ Chief Economist, Leslie Appleton-Young, provided the above chart at the 2012 Economic Forecast last week (click here to read my article with highlights from 2012 forecast).  44% of Los Angeles County real estate sales in August 2011 were distressed sales.  After checking Palos Verdes real estate data from California Regional Multiple Listing service, I found 5 out of the 59 single family Palos Verdes homes sales in August 2011 were distressed sales; that is 8.5% – far better than the rest of LA County.

Since the first of the year, 35 out of the 432 single family Palos Verdes houses sold to date were distressed sales.  22 were short sales, 12 were bank owned sales and 1 was sold in foreclosure.  The highest priced distressed sale was a home in Palos Verdes Estates that sold for $4,800,000.  69% of the distressed sales for single family Palos Verdes homes sold under $1,000,000.  More statistics on Palos Verdes real estate can be accessed by clicking here or on the “Statistics” tab above.

Chart courtesy of California Association of Realtors

Wednesday, I attended a Women’s Council of Realtors seminar where Leslie Appleton-Young, Chief Economist for California Association of Realtors, presented her 2012 economic forecast in addition to comments on the current economy and the real estate market.  I always look forward to hearing her speak because she has specific information for California.  Highlights of her speech are below.  For information on our Palos Verdes real estate market, click here or on the “Statistics” tab above.

• The GDP has stalled and consumer spending has slowed.
• Since 2009 California unemployment has been 12% and job losses bottomed in 2009.
• Jobs in construction is way down and the financial sector is down also.  Education and Health sectors are up.
• September 2011 showed a slight (.2%) rise in Consumer Confidence
• The Consumer Price Index is up 2% (3.8% with Food and Energy)
• California recovers sooner than the U.S. according to 40 year statistics.
• U.S. deficit is currently 11% of GDP.
• First half of 2011 real estate unit sales down .4% but up 10.2% year to year.
• Foreclosures will be with us for another 4-5 years but they peaked in California in 2009.
• According to CAR survey, 32% of regular sales have multiple offers; 52% of distressed properties have multiple offers.
• 2012 forecast is 1% increase in real estate units sold and 1.7% increase in median price.

It was interesting to note that according to the CAR survey of buyers and sellers:

• More than half of the sellers think the direction of home prices is “down”
• More than half of the buyers think the direction of home prices is “don’t know” – yet they bought the home anyway, which says to me that they purchased the home to live in and enjoy regardless of the market.

Chart courtesy of California Association of Realtors

Sales for Palos Verdes real estate single family homes in the first 16 days of September are considerably less than sales to date for this time last month (27).  16 Palos Verdes houses have been reported as sold to date since September 1, 2011.  (It may take an additional week for some sales to post after the actual close of escrow).  The average sales price for single family Palos Verdes homes for September to date is $1,859,631 which is up from last months average of $1,393,654.

In September 2011 to date, the highest priced Palos Verdes home sold for $7,425,000 in the city of Rancho Palos Verdes in Oceanfront Estates; it was a custom built 8,337 square foot home with 6 bedrooms and 7 baths with panoramic ocean/Catalina  views, a library, office/study, home theater, elevator, an infinity pool, spa, fountain, putting green and a 4-car garage on a 32,770 square foot lot.  The lowest priced Palos Verdes home sold to date in August for $689,000 and is located in the Eastview area of Rancho Palos Verdes; this home has 1,568 square feet, 3 bedrooms and 2 baths on a 12,628 square foot lot.

We currently have 266 active single family Palos Verdes homes for sale priced between $680,000 in Rancho Palos Verdes and $14,900,000 also in Rancho Palos Verdes (the low in Eastview is $548,000).  To view Palos Verdes real estate statistics from June 2010 through August 2011, click here or on the “Statistics” tab above.

August 2011 statistics for Palos Verdes real estate are better all categories.  68 Palos Verdes houses had pending sales in August 2011 compared to 63 homes in July.  58 single family Palos Verdes homes sold/closed escrow in August while 55 homes sold in July.  Inventory of active Palos Verdes homes for sale was 278 for August 2011 continuing to fall from 286 homes in July which makes the market a little tighter for buyers.  It is exciting to note that August 2011 statistics in all three categories were better than August of 2010 which had only 40 Palos Verdes houses sold, 54 pending and significantly more active listings at 343.

In August, price per square foot/average sales price for Palos Verdes homes sold was up to $468/$1,304,000 from $454/$1,187,000 in July (38 of the 58 homes sold in August were over $1,000,000).  Average days on market in August decreased to 65 days from 77 days in July.  Months of inventory (months it would take to sell existing inventory at the current rate of sale) fell to 4.8 months in July from 5.2 months in June.  A “normal” market is considered to be 6 months and anything less is good!  Entire charts can be accessed by clicking here or on the “Statistics ” tab above.

Currently, there are 263 single family Palos Verdes homes for sale.  108 Palos Verdes houses are in escrow (54 homes have pending sales and 54 homes are accepting backup offers).  Additionally, 9 homes have sold/closed escrow in the first 8 days of September with an average sales price of $2,091,678 (okay, we had a few large sales but that number looks great, doesn’t it?).

Chart courtesy of Trendgraphix, Inc.

Sales for Palos Verdes real estate single family homes in the first 19 days of August almost match sales to date for this time last month (33).  35 Palos Verdes houses have been reported as sold to date since August 1, 2011.  (It may take an additional week for some sales to post after the actual close of escrow).  The average sales price for single family Palos Verdes homes for August to date is $1,348,790 which is up from last months average of $1,187,00.

In August 2011 to date, the highest priced Palos Verdes home sold for $5,050,000 in the city of Rancho Palos Verdes in Oceanfront Estates; it was a custom built 7,969 square foot home with 5 bedrooms and 9 baths with panoramic ocean/Catalina  views, a gym, an indoor saltwater pool and a 5-car garage on a 31,918 square foot lot.  The lowest priced Palos Verdes home sold to date in August for $700,111 and is located in the Eastview area of Rancho Palos Verdes; this home has 1,746 square feet, 4 bedrooms and 2 baths on a 8,100 square foot lot.

We currently have 285 active single family Palos Verdes homes for sale priced between $669,000 in Rolling Hills Estates and $14,900,000 in Rancho Palos Verdes (the low in Eastview is $579,900).  To view Palos Verdes real estate statistics from May 2010 through July 2011, click here or on the “Statistics” tab above.

July 2011 statistics for Palos Verdes real estate are better in some categories and not quite as good in others. 68 Palos Verdes houses had pending sales in July 2011 compared to 58 homes in June.  55 Palos Verdes homes sold/closed escrow in July while 53 homes sold in June and both months similar to what we experienced last year.  Inventory of Palos Verdes homes for sale was 286 for July 2011 and 342 for July 2010 which gives the edge to the sellers.

In July, price per square foot/average sales price for Palos Verdes homes sold was down to $454/$1,187,000 from $493/$1,436,000 in June (27 of the 55 homes sold in July were under $1,000,000).  Average days on market in July increased to 77 days from 58 days in June; inventory of active Palos Verdes homes for sale was almost exactly the same – 286 homes in July and 285 homes in June.  Months of inventory (months it would take to sell existing inventory at the current rate of sale) fell to 5.2 months in July from 5.4 months in June.  A “normal” market is considered to be 6 months and anything less is good!  Entire charts can be accessed by clicking here or on the “Statistics ” tab above.

Currently, there are 280 single family Palos Verdes homes for sale.  108 Palos Verdes houses are in escrow (56 homes have pending sales and 53 homes are accepting backup offers).  Additionally, 14 homes have sold/closed escrow in the first 9 days of August.

Chart courtesy of Trendgraphix, Inc.

What has been the trend for Palos Verdes real estate?  There have been several recent articles in the Los Angeles Times regarding real estate in California and specifically the Los Angeles area.

The Case-Shiller index of May home prices (compared to April) was reported in 20 metropolitan cities; Los Angeles was up .5% (click here to read article).  Today’s Los Angeles Times ran an article, “Tax Rolls Up for 1st Time In 3 Years – The uptick in values could signal that the real estate market is growing stronger.” I was curious what Palos Verdes homes sales had experienced so I researched  Palos Verdes real estate data for the last four years.

The average sales price for single family Palos Verdes houses in June 2007 was $1,582,000; June 2008 climbed to $1,700,000;  June 2009 was $1,249,000; June 2010 was $1,366,000 and June 2011 was $1,445,000.  As you can see from the lower red line on the top chart, sales have been rolling along in a mid range for the last three years.  It’s good to keep in mind that these number reflect the homes sold in that month only and a few really high priced or low priced home sales can really change the numbers.  I prefer to look at the overall graph trends.

Number of sales is also a good indicator or our Palos Verdes real estate market.  63 Palos Verdes homes sold in June 2007, 42 in June 2008, 54 in June 2009, 51 in June 2010 and 52 in June 2011.  In looking at the chart above, after a slowdown in late 2008/early 2009, the number of Palos Verdes homes sold has remained fairly level.  To view Palos Verdes real estate statistics from April 2010 through June 2011, click here or on the “Statistics” tab above. Please contact me if you would like an email version of the four year statistics.

Charts courtesy of Trendgraphix, Inc.

Sales for Palos Verdes real estate single family homes in the first 21 days of July almost match sales to date for this time last month (38).  37 Palos Verdes houses have been reported as sold to date since July 1, 2011.  (It may take an additional week for some sales to post after the actual close of escrow).  The average sales price for single family Palos Verdes homes for July to date is $1,336,819 which is down from last months average of $1,445,000.

In July 2011 to date, the highest priced Palos Verdes home sold for $3,000,000 in the city of Rolling Hills; it was a new custom built 4,320 square foot home with 4 bedrooms and 5 baths on a 119,354 square foot lot with a panoramic ocean/coastline city view.  The lowest priced Palos Verdes home sold to date in July for $606,200 and is located in the Lunada Bay area of Palos Verdes Estates; this short sale was 1,307 square feet, 2 bedrooms and 2 baths on a 6,400 square foot lot.

We currently have 286 active single family Palos Verdes homes for sale priced between $699,000 in Rolling Hills Estates and $12,950,000 in Rolling Hills (the low in Eastview is $579,900).  To view Palos Verdes real estate statistics from April 2010 through June 2011, click here or on the “Statistics” tab above.