The new MB Market Update spreadsheets are available: download the 4/30/08 update by clicking here, or at any time by using the link at the upper-right corner of the main MBC page. Information in this update closed April 30.
We now split up the discussions of our 3 areas west of Sepulveda into separate articles. You can download the complete spreadsheet now or any time. Articles on the Sand Section and Tree Section will follow.
Total SFR inventory west of Sepulveda was at 107 on April 30, +11 from the middle of the month and +10 from the end of March, yet another new record in our year-plus of public market tracking. (See "Climb, Climb" for our 1-year inventory graph.)
Overall, in April we recorded 31 new listings, 17 sales (new escrows) and 9 cancellations, including a few listings that have been "on hold" a while that we now treat as canceled.
Those 17 sales (new escrows) compare with these figures for 2008 thus far (of course, these are for SFRs west of Sepulveda):
2008 Sales (New Escrows) by Month
Jan: 8For comparison's sake, last year, MBC recorded 23 sales (new escrows) in the month of April.
Feb: 19
Mar: 12
Apr: 17
Note that the March figure for this year was previously reported as 13, but we know 2005 Oak fell out of escrow (it's back on the market now), so we've subtracted 1. We also heard that 1821 Walnut canceled while in escrow – which could mean it's failed, too – but since it has not returned to the market, we're still counting it as a March sale for now.
Hill Section
There were 19 active SFRs in the Hill Section on April 30.
There were 4 new listings in this 2-week period (as always, click on any highlighted address for details via Redfin):
- 511 N. Dianthus, a 3br/2ba "entry level" house with 1900 sq. ft. It's clean, but shows its 1960s vintage – not much style nor many substantial updates. It's on a smallish 3250 sq. ft. lot which somehow has room for a large, very sweet garden with koi pond. Starts at $1.429m.
312 S. Dianthus (pictured) is an early-90s Spanish-inspired home with 5br/5ba, 4475 sq. ft. and ocean views. It's got a roofdeck, which we do like, but a vintage 90s feel, which we don't love. Check out the pics – there are some real head-scratchers (strange mantles abound; the formal dining room appears to be outfitted with two desk chairs). Well, these are things you can fix or update after you move in. Starts at $3.490m.
- 918 10th offers the same living-space profile as 312 S. Dianthus, 5br/5ba, 4475 sq. ft., but with a lesser location and no ocean views. The lot's larger, however (9000 sq. ft.). This all balances out at an asking price $250k below Dianthus – $3.2m. Not on the MLS at this writing; click here for the website.
864 11th (pictured) is a large (5br/5ba, 3775 sq. ft.) family home on a lot of nearly 8000 sq. ft. Pluses: Nice great room, updated kitchen & master bath, a garage in the back corner of the property, a decent yard.
Start price seems quite high at $3.35m, considering the other, larger new offerings mentioned above, and the fact that a somewhat comparable, yet larger (by 700 sq. ft.), home at 916 9th recently went into escrow priced at $2.895m (and that took several months of trying).Just 2 price cuts this round: 1100 John took $60k off and is now at $1.199m, while the house up at 923 1st, which once sought to be an $8m house, chopped $220k more and now rests a hair below $7.4m. Has it finally found its price? Nah, we didn't think so, either.
We are keeping another listing on the spreadsheets for one more period – the very quiet 724 11th, which never made much of a splash after its late-February entry and has now been on hold for a while. We'll treat it as canceled shortly if it doesn't come back as active.
No new sales (new escrows) or closed sales in this period. A submarket that MBC dared to declare "En Fuego" (with some knowing exaggeration) in mid-April based on 3 sales in the first half of the month has quieted down again, just building inventory in this 2-week period.
16 comments:
MBC,
What's with Redfin changing listings to "two units" and starting the DOM to 0 days? Does Redfin do this, or do the listing agents change the data, seems like a pretty weak trick.
1821 Walnut is back on the market at 2,399,000, which means it's now off $350,000 from original price.
Has anybody seen 401 3rd yet, which my wife now calls the gothic castle. What a complete joke. Other than the roof deck, which is truly outstanding, the rest of the house is average, at best. Well, actually, I wouldn't know because the owner has two of the bedrooms locked and the master closet locked, so we couldn't even determine what those rooms looked like. The realtor told us that we had to "trust" the seller that the rooms were nice and that if we bought we could back out during the walk through if the rooms weren't up to our liking. Are you kidding me? How in the world can anybody make a purchase for $2,700,000 and not see two of the bedrooms and the master closet? I want whatever they are smoking.
As for the gothic taste... If I'm the buyer I need to factor in another 100k to get rid of the various "features."
The positives - the location is outstanding, and as mentioned, the roof deck is great. But underwhelming when factored in with the rest of the home. And no chance the house is 3500 square feet. But again, maybe it is if I would have been able to look at the other two bedrooms.
106 sellers west of Sepulveda. Stop dropping prices. Everyone knows there are lots of buyers. They just want to see prices stabilize before they buy. Its pretty simple. Sellers hold firm on asking price.
Hold your breath at the same time and stamp your foot.
That'll show'em.
9:40 am - You appear to be the same person that wrote about 742 26th street a few months back. Do you think everything in every house takes $100k to change?
BTW, if I was selling a house for $2.7M, I probably wouldn't let every moron in the south bay go into private rooms during an open house.
If you're a real buyer, you can always get a private showing.
Hey! Timothy 617! I resent that remark!
huggy, thank you for admitting that prices are falling.
10:11 a.m.
If the shoe fits where it !!!!
Curbed LA is reporting that the LA city council is considering a "Luxury Tax which shall be levied on owners of mansions in Los Angeles which meet or exceed 5,000 square feet."
If that passes, it will help prop up our prices as more Westsiders flock down to avoid paying it...
A quick scan reveals 9 places up for sale with >5000 sqft.
Something tells me those prices won't be propped up.
Westsiders looking at sub-5,000 sf homes will do nothing to prop up prices in any area. More expensive home ownership doesn't lead to price increases.
I would bet that if you took the higher end westside areas and compared the ratio of +5,000sf homes to entire inventory and then compare that to the same ratio for MB, you would come up with the opposite of your claim. MB is more overbuilt.
There aren't too many >5,000 sq. ft. home yet in MB. I could maybe see this sparking a new wave of lot mergers, though...maybe...
Yes, Huggy thank you for admitting that prices are dropping and that you have anger issues.
12:22- Last I knew, MB was not part of the city of LA. So your comment is probably off-base.
Hi MBWatcher,
Okay, I've searched your blog through all the Hill section searches, but cannot find where you draw the boundary line for the Hillsection on the North side. I always thought it was Marine and Valley/Ardmore. Is it just to MB Blvd? If so, then what's that funky little section south and east of Valley/Ardmore and west of Pacific--on the "hilly" side near Martyr's--is all that also Trees? Or is part of it considered Sand?
And where is the line for where the Sand and Tree sections meet north of the Valley Ardmore divide: Blanche to Bell? Blanche all the way to Rosecrans? Flournoy? (I always thought it should be the top of the cliff myself, but no one asked me.)
Maybe you could add a section map for reference to your blog....
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